Saturday, May 30, 2026

MINING POLITICAL MINEFIELDS

 Another blog-comment.

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I think the Liberal attitude toward Islam goes further than just deflection to the evils of Christianity.


Consider: the negative reaction toward colonialism in the West, while not confined to Liberals and/or Marxists, resulted in the idea that relatively helpless tribs, such as the Pacific Islanders, should have been protected from cultural pollution. A real-world, after the fact application of something like STAR TREK's Prime Directive.


Too often, though, Liberals act as if Islamic nations, often empowered by the technology of refining petroleum resources, deserve "protection" from the evils of Judeo-Christianity. Of course the Islamic nations practiced colonialism on a grand scale, as well as organizing the first trans-national slave trade. 


The valid question Daisy raised, as *I* would word it, is, "Is Islam more extreme than other major religions in terms of destructive rhetoric, and does thar rhetoric have real-world consequences?"  Someone mentioned the Catholic Church shielding pederasts. But does any of that result from Christian rhetoric? And aren't those crimes being kept secret precisely because many Christians would condemn such practices? In comparison, does anything in Shariya Law DIRECTLY condemn  suicide bombers?          

Monday, May 25, 2026

CROSSOVER MADNESS

 Herman Melville turned over you know where when he learned that ORIGINAL GHOSTBUSTERS had the ghosts of Moby Dick and Captain Ahab be best of friends in the afterlife. Note the Samta makeover.


  

Saturday, May 23, 2026

MONSTER MASHUPS #159

 Here lie the feminine fear-figures of MONSTER MARRIAGE SHOP, starting with --


URURU THE WEREWOLF.




ROBIN THE HARPY.


HARNIS THE SUCCUBUS,


CAMILLA THE VAMPIRE.


MEISA THE GORGON.


YUKO THE UNICORN.


KANAME THE AKANAME (scum-sucking demon)


ARK THE SELKIE.


SARA THE SALAMANDER and EYERENE THE CYCLOPS. 


BAPHOMET THE DEMON.




Saturday, May 2, 2026

RAR #102/103: BLACKHAND AND RUNNNG DOG

 TIM HOLT #39 brings back an Evil Indian trope not much seen since colonial days: the cannibal Indian. Blackhand plots to devour hero Red Mask and four famous westerners in the belief that he'll gain the supernatural power he needs to beat the Whites.




The negatively named Running Dog devises a giant rattle filled with rocks in TH #41, into which he places victims-- and then it's "shake, rattle and pulverize."


 


 

  

CROSSOVER MADNESS

RED MASK unites with four famed westerners-- Jesse James, Billy the Kid, Grat Dalton and Wild Bill Hickock-- to battle a common threat in a mere six pages.


 

Saturday, April 25, 2026

MINING POLITICAL MINEFIELDS

 For whatever reasons, I've never encountered the word "systemic" in any context but its current political meaning. So I was intrigued to learn, courtesy of Rachel Carson's 1962 SILENT SPRING, that it also had a biological connotation:

What makes an insecticide a systemic is its ability to permeate all the tissues of a plant or animal and make them toxic. -- Chapter 3


I know that the term "institutional racism" dates back to 1967, but a quick online search does not say when "systemic racism" came into vogue. I have no reason to think that the coiner of the term knew of the biological association, but it would be appropriate given the portrait of "whiteness" by authors like Kendi and Higginbotham is one of irredeemable toxicity. That amply explains why the "anti-racists" think it's OK to stigmatize white people even if they've committed no specific sins against POC, because they've all absorbed, as by cultural osmosis, the toxic nature of racists-- though the same authors would rage against "typing" POC by their cultures.

Thursday, April 16, 2026

CROSSOVER MADNESS


 

RETURN OF THE BAD MEN is an efficient B-western in which one of Randolph Scott's usual stolid heroes is forced to contend with a gang of famous outlaws, including several who never knew one another in history: the Daltons, Bill Doolin, Billy the Kid (a very brief appearance), the Youngers, three bandits I'd never heard of, and the standout Sundance Kid, portrayed by Robert Ryan as a cruel sociopath. Anne Jeffreys plays a fictional lady outlaw, niece of Bill Doolin, and when she's challenged for being in a man's business, she name-checks Belle Starr as her model. This was a loose sequel to another outlaw-teamup, BADMAN'S TERRITORY, which I have not been able to re-screen yet.