My Moral Foundations
Interesting. I outpace the average left-liberal on care and fairness and the average conservative on purity. I bet leftists would be surprised to hear the former after hearing some of my policy positions! But of course, being super-concerned about care and fairness does not mean I must adopt the left's prescriptions for social welfare and the like.
The Elephant in the Room: The Current Abortion Debate
What I'm about to say here is probably going to make nobody happy, but what the hell:
I believe the only bright line between random cells and a unique human life is conception. Any other line we try to draw will have no scientific basis and, even more importantly, will introduce problematic philosophical propositions that will inevitably lead to the devaluing of other inconvenient persons if allowed to run to their logical conclusions.
I say this because I believe that's what the facts show -- not because I want to "control women's bodies." God, I hate that argument. As Dennis Prager has correctly pointed out, the pro-life movement as a whole is not telling women they can't drink or get tattoos or go bungie jumping -- all activities that involve the exercising of bodily autonomy. Hell, we're not even trying to legally control with whom you have sex -- though most of us would strongly encourage you to make that choice wisely and only once. We just believe the calculus changes once another human life is at stake. To put it simply, we just don't want babies to be killed for convenience's sake. That's it.
We understand there are hard cases, and we're willing to discuss those, but the hard cases are not what drives abortion demand. Irresponsibility is what does. Sorry: I know this is a harsh truth that our free-wheeling, "sexually liberated" society doesn't want to hear, but if you don't want a kid, the proper time to make that choice is before you have sex. It's gross to demand a right to kill another human being just to duck the consequences of your ill-considered actions.
As hard-line as I am on this issue, though, I'm still a political pragmatist -- and that's why I think the recently-passed Alabama law is a mistake at this time. As much as I agree with its moral underpinnings, our society is simply not ready for a near-total ban. We've been living by the codes of the sexual revolution for too long and need an extensive re-evangelization first.
On the College Board's Proposed "Adversity Score"
As an SAT tutor, I obviously must comment on this bit of news. And upon reflection, I think I would be okay with such a metric under the following conditions:
First, immutable characteristics like gender and race must not be factored into such a score. The focus should be on economic disadvantage only.
Secondly, the adversity score should not be used with the SAT. Why? Because I don't want students to be admitted to university under lower standards for any reason. I think that sort of affirmative action results in mismatch and sets kids up to fail. Instead, the better course would be to use the adversity score with the PSAT 8/9 to identify younger disadvantaged students for talent development programs. That way, we can spend four or five years building up the academic foundations of these students so they can meet the same high standards demanded of their more advantaged peers.
More Comments from Dad
BLUF - JUST SAY NO -- this time I have several short observations to share.
Please read to the end. I have a different BLATE at the end but it is an IMPORTANT NEW CONSERVATIVE thought to get to and to understand.
FIRST:
TRUMP is right to JUST SAY NO to complying with any further Democrat/Socialist/Communist harassment via hearings that are only to further media time from their propaganda arm (most mainstream TV and print media).
A blogger/author whom I admire says when the forces of evil (Democrat/Socialist) say or do something stupid - point it out and laugh at them. TRUMP's Twitter use is among the best efforts to point out the excesses and stupidity of his disloyal opposition. I and most people who are not brainwashed by media bias or our stupid party (Country Club Republicans) caterwauling about appropriate conduct (writers who never seem to notice or comment on Democrat/Communist inappropriate conduct) see through the stupidity. TRUMP fights back, and more power to him. If the Communist/Democrat controlled House ever comes up with a legitimate request for information, they won't need subpoena. TRUMP will deliver the legitimate info promptly.
Read more at Dad's new blog...
Now Back to Squeeing Over the MCU
My brother and I aired a 90-minute ramble on Endgame and the MCU as a whole the other day (and yes, as the title indicates, there are spoilers):
More commentary on this conversation and other aspects of the MCU below the jump (because there may be spoilers here too):
Part way through our talk above, Matt asked me why I thought I reacted so strongly to how Tony's story played out. Why, he wondered, did I develop such a strong parasocial relationship with that particular character?
That was one of the many times in this podcast that I stumbled. (Sorry about how awkward I am in the recording, by the way. I'm still processing.) Matt went on to suggest, based on his own personal observations, that my several autistic traits may have played a role. And yes, he might be partially right about that. But last night, it occurred to me that my life-long struggles with anxiety may have had even more of an influence. As I texted to Matt once I had the insight, Tony is the only character whose struggles with mental illness have been given extended on-screen treatment. And when I look at my previously-mentioned Tony Stark playlist, what precisely have I grabbed from Iron Man 3 in particular? Lo and behold, I have all the anxiety scenes. Eureka!
Of course, as I said in the podcast, I also just deeply admire good writing -- and good acting too. I haven't given RDJ the credit he's due yet, so let's do that here: he's awesome. Really, really awesome. I didn't know this until I started looking at the behind-the-scenes stuff in the past week or so, but apparently, they didn't have a screenplay for Iron Man. Yes, that's right: the dude was winging it, helping to write the missing script as he went. Jesus, that takes talent -- as does conveying a consequential character evolution in one take, as RDJ does in The Avengers when Tony goes through the wormhole and sees the massive armada on the other side. All the praise, sir. All the praise!
I'd also like to take the time here to repeat and expand upon my remarks on spoil-sport conservative film reviewers. Because seriously: the fellas who reviewed Endgame at NRO really are taking the MCU completely for granted. Indeed, when you dismiss movies like Endgame as "shallow," you're playing right into leftists' hands. Leftists gatekeep. Leftists insist that commercial success and critical merit are mutually exclusive. Leftists want cultural products to "challenge the audience" instead of telling familiar stories. If you are conservative, you should know better. You should know that this push for subversion and novelty has actually destroyed our creative arts. And you should recognize that if we are ever going to restore the culture that built wonderous works of art like, say, Notre Dame, we should applaud whenever anyone tells an archetypal story in a manner that inspires genuine emotion among its fans.
As I said in the podcast above, not everything that is popular is good. I'll give you that. But if something is popular, it deserves further examination at the very least, as you might discover something quite extraordinary. No: what conservative reviewers should've done instead of running with their elitist prejudices is listen to the fans of the MCU. At last count, there are 108 videos on the "One Marvelous Scene" playlist on YouTube. If they had played through a few of those commentaries, perhaps these reviewers would've realized just how much depth the MCU has for the people who love it. Because you see, we're not talking about the eye candy. We're talking about friendship. We're talking about teamwork. We're talking about family. We're talking about struggle and loss and personal redemption. We're talking about fighting evil and the legacies we want to leave behind. I honestly have no idea if the MCU will endure beyond our generation, but it has clearly touched a nerve in the current moment and deserves to be taken seriously on that fact alone.
As a matter of fact, allow me to close this post by demonstrating, ol' fuddy-duddy conservatives, why it's foolish to poo-poo the MCU by offering a conservative read of Tony Stark. (Hah! See, I knew I could bring it back to my boy eventually. :) ) Tony is the MCU's technocrat. His (emotionally distant) father has taught him that "everything is achievable through technology," and he has taken that to heart. Thus, when faced with evil, he retreats to his gadgets. First, he tries to surround himself with high tech armor; then he thinks he can surround the world with it. At one point, he even has a misadventure with a transnational political agreement. (Ahem.) All along, he thinks his intellectual acumen will one day enable him to take complete control of his frightening circumstances and defeat catastrophe. But no: what ultimately allows him to win is the spiritual side of his character, not his brains. In order to defeat Thanos, he had to have a family and work on his soul, not his inventions.
Think about that: Endgame didn't end with a scientific achievement. As I said in the podcast, it ended with an act of self-abnegation. It ended, you might say, with a repudiation of our hubris. What's more conservative than that?
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