Insofar as competition is the measure of oneself against another, it entails the view that the other is more important than oneself. Otherwise, it would be sufficient to measure oneself against oneself (a past self, a hoped-for future self) or against some absolute standard not necessarily related to any self. Such an other-regarding view usually …
February 2010 archive
Feb 15 2010
Figure Skating: A Very Gendered Thing
Many call figure skating a sissy sport, a feminine thing. To the contrary, and to my unrelenting irritation, it is a very gender-inclusive sport, a sport of both sexes, a sport where men must be men and women must be, well, girls. Consider the costumes. The men usually wear ordinary long pants and a more …
Feb 10 2010
Canterbury’s Law, The Good Wife, etc, etc, etc…
When the pilot episode of Canterbury’s Law aired, I was really annoyed. The main character was an intelligent, powerful woman (a lawyer). Good. Who is shown obsessing over her appearance, albeit grudgingly, wondering whether the color of her suit brings out her eyes. Within the first hour, we also see her going to her husband …
Feb 09 2010
In Praise of AIDS
These days I’m kinda rootin’ for AIDS, you know? First, I mean, if we need a ‘die off’, if we need a major decrease in the human population, in order for the planet (the human species included) to survive, well then AIDS gets my vote. War would do it. But, whether biochemical or nuclear, it …
fiction
