![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
May. 22nd, 2010 01:50 am* It's been theorized that the Egyptian priesthood clung to hieroglyphics because having a complex system that took so long to learn limited literacy to a relatively small elite, ensuring them job security and power. I have always had a suspicion that that's what the post modern movement in academia is really all about. If you write things that even most academics can't really understand, then you can keep most people, even very bright, educated people out of your patch. In my bouts of grad school I had to plow through quite a bit of that stuff. I can read it, but it's hardly ever saying anything interesting enough to justify the hassle of reading it. sometimes it means nothing at all, which I suppose is the idea, but I think it's rather a cruel trick to play on people who are in college because they love learning stuff.
* Sometimes there is furious debate over the causes of transgenderism or transsexualism. There are plenty of theories, but not much evidence (Most of the tiny numbers of studies being done have tiny sample sizes or suspect protocol). My suspicion is that if they ever crack it, it'll prove to be multi-causal. I'm betting there will be some genetic, some hormonal, some environmental, and some psychological causes. I suspect the answer isn't one answer, but many answers, sometimes singular and sometimes in combination. Complexity. I don't expect it to get cracked in my lifetime, so all the acrimonious dispute that generally ends up excluding someone or invalidating some one's identity just seems like a bad idea.
* "Once More with Feeling" Again. I've been through four times now. I still have some trouble parsing Anya, but I can understand everyone else at this point. It does work a little better for me, though I think it suffers from a lack of songs that really grab me. My brain's auto shuffle is turning up "Something to Sing About" off and on, which suggests it has potential. I guess my problem was that people's responses to it suggested to me that it was meant to be like a real musical, with the things I expect from a musical. I think Rm's observation that things people said about it lead to an expectation of humor was also part of my problem. If I take it not as a musical, but as an 6th season ordinary episode that happens to be sung, I respond to it better.
At first the demon refusing to sleep with Xander struck me as homophobic, but after a couple days to think, it occurs to me I wouldn't bang Xander either.
* Sometimes there is furious debate over the causes of transgenderism or transsexualism. There are plenty of theories, but not much evidence (Most of the tiny numbers of studies being done have tiny sample sizes or suspect protocol). My suspicion is that if they ever crack it, it'll prove to be multi-causal. I'm betting there will be some genetic, some hormonal, some environmental, and some psychological causes. I suspect the answer isn't one answer, but many answers, sometimes singular and sometimes in combination. Complexity. I don't expect it to get cracked in my lifetime, so all the acrimonious dispute that generally ends up excluding someone or invalidating some one's identity just seems like a bad idea.
* "Once More with Feeling" Again. I've been through four times now. I still have some trouble parsing Anya, but I can understand everyone else at this point. It does work a little better for me, though I think it suffers from a lack of songs that really grab me. My brain's auto shuffle is turning up "Something to Sing About" off and on, which suggests it has potential. I guess my problem was that people's responses to it suggested to me that it was meant to be like a real musical, with the things I expect from a musical. I think Rm's observation that things people said about it lead to an expectation of humor was also part of my problem. If I take it not as a musical, but as an 6th season ordinary episode that happens to be sung, I respond to it better.
At first the demon refusing to sleep with Xander struck me as homophobic, but after a couple days to think, it occurs to me I wouldn't bang Xander either.
