Interesting Links for 06-11-2025

[andrewducker]

1. NY school smartphone ban has made lunch loud again

(tags:school phones )

2. People are *terrible* at telling when they're being flirted with

(tags:relationships psychology )

3. Pros And Cons Of A 3rd Trump Term

(tags:politics usa satire funny )

4. MSPs defend working with groups opposed to abortion and marriage equality

(tags:Scotland abortion LGBT OhForFucksSake marriage )

5. The Anti Defamation League has gone from fighting antisemitism to fuelling Islamophobia

(tags:Jews islam palestine charity OhForFucksSake )

Comments

2.

[channelpenguin]

Yup, I was. Absolutely appalling at knowing if someone was flirting. I didn't get it.

Maybe bcause I didn't flirt AT ALL. I was about as subtle as a very large brick. Anything people might have thought was flirting? Nope. If I was interested - you'd absolutely KNOW*. So I suppose I was especially ill equipped to spot subtlety.

I think I think that flirting should not be A Thing. The old goth cliché "nice boots - fancy a fuck?" is about as far as I ever deemed necessary. I didn't have time for overthinking my sex life. Too busy overthinking everything else!

*of course some people just don't believe the possibility that ANYONE can be interested in them, so they could perhaps miss even my lack of style!

Re: 2.

[cmcmck]

I wasn't fully aware I was being flirted with in the opera until he asked to buy me a drink and then if he could see me again.

That guy eventually became my husband! :o)

Re: 2.

[channelpenguin]

Ooh. Well it seems it all worked out well in the end! :-)

[calimac]

5) It's certainly true that criticism of Israeli policy is often wrongly taken as anti-semitism. But it is equally true that anti-semitism often disguises itself as criticism of Israel. I wrote a post once about how to tell the difference. Basically it's about how sweeping the criticism is. An American shouldn't have trouble distinguishing between criticism of the administration and denunciation of the country (or a British person either, considering how anemic support of recent British governments has been), but sometimes they do.

Also there's this from the article:
"Of course, that does not mean antisemitism no longer exists, but it is not structural."
That's exactly what I would have said about anti-black racism in the US - that it still existed, but the kind of toxic Jim Crow attitudes that used to prevail were gone - until Obama was elected. Then they all came roaring back.
If that could happen, it could happen to anti-semitism. That's why the Jews are nervous, and vigilant.

[andrewducker]

Agreed. There are enough antisemites out there for it to become structural very easily.

[calimac]

I was about to add:
And Islamophobic attitudes are also roaring back in the wake of Mamdani's election: These examples are as appalling as anything I've seen. Shows how it happens.