What are you reading now?
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I’m in the beginning of Woodwards war. Right now on Putin and plans for Ukraine. Lots of people thought he was bluffing because the idea was too crazy. Little did they know.
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Woodward book is fascinating. I’m going slow because I’m reading two other books concurrently. The WWII naval history (now on Leyte gulf) and a history of Assyria.
First half of Woodward was all Ukraine. Now it’s Middle East
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Just finished Ta-Nehisi Coates’ The Message. I was inspired to pick it up when listening to Glenn Loury’s podcast where he had some positive things to say about it. He and John McWhorter argued about it a bit but John hadn’t read it so they tabled a discussion about it until he did so. Having heard that it’s short, and seeing that it’s on Spotify, I decided to listen to it in order to get more out of their debate (which is now released though I’ve not yet listened to it).
I’ll only make one point about it here, which is orthogonal to the message (no pun intended) of the book - Coates, who reads the audiobook, very consciously ‘axes’ his questions. Even in the past tense - “What’s the delay, he axed.” I’m guessing - no, I’m certain - that 20 years ago when he was getting his start at The Atlantic, he would have asked his questions instead.
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@jon-nyc Yes I'm sure you're right that it's performative blackness. I once heard a black scientist say it that way in a meeting 10 years ago. I had a moment of sympathetic cringe, but maybe that makes me a racist. In his case I think it was an
askaccidental slip.@Axtremus what are your thoughts on this? Has anybody ever called you "Ask"? Did you karate chop them for it?
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@Horace said in What are you reading now?:
@jon-nyc Yes I'm sure you're right that it's performative blackness. I once heard a black scientist say it that way in a meeting 10 years ago. I had a moment of sympathetic cringe, but maybe that makes me a racist.
A guy I worked with 30 years ago slipped it out while giving a presentation to a room full of white businessmen. I could tell he was mortified. I remember it made me think of how he has to code-switch and the rest of us don’t. I think Coates has reached the point where he’s just not going to do that anymore.
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@jon-nyc said in What are you reading now?:
@Horace said in What are you reading now?:
@jon-nyc Yes I'm sure you're right that it's performative blackness. I once heard a black scientist say it that way in a meeting 10 years ago. I had a moment of sympathetic cringe, but maybe that makes me a racist.
A guy I worked with 30 years ago slipped it out while giving a presentation to a room full of white businessmen. I could tell he was mortified. I remember it made me think of how he has to code-switch and the rest of us don’t. I think Coates has reached the point where he’s just not going to do that anymore.
Well, he's a standard bearer as a public intellectual whose blackness informs his every thought, so it's entirely on brand to present with typically black language.
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@bachophile said in What are you reading now?:
https://c.media-amazon.com/images/I/810stFXOyAL.SL1500.jpg
800 pages of WWII naval history. Love it.
Finished.
Absolutely the best work on naval WWII I’ve ever come across and I’ve tried a few.
It’s all encompassing but very readable.
