movq

Wherein I Move a Lot of Words Around

Is It Illegal to Make Your Spouse Ride on the Roof of the Car?

Is It Illegal to Make Your Spouse Ride on the Roof of the Car? | Lowering the Bar

This question arises from the recent arrest of a Florida man (credit: The Smoking Gun) after he was stopped by a police officer who wished to inquire as to why there was a woman clinging to the roof of his car. The answer to that question, as you might expect, turned out to be complicated.

The Academy and Diversity

The issue is larger than the folks running the show can fix. Their members vote based on what they see as talent. Their membership is not at all diverse. Even this, though, isn't in their control. They mainly have A-level members with some scattering of Bs. Folks at that level trend towards the pale end of the spectrum as a product of the viewership's perceived preferences ("Ain't no white family going to see a movie with a black lead!" uhh, Lethal Weapon? The Matrix? A hundred others?)

So if we want a villain – and who doesn't? – it's the casting and hiring directors who are using outmoded descriptions of the viewership (from their producers and other management) from god-knows-when that limit the influx of diverse talent into the industry to begin with.

Fix that and then the cast and crews become diverse (as the people on-screen in the theaters become more diverse). Then they get their membership and vote. Then the nominees reflect this.

It's a huge problem, and not at all fair for anyone on any side to blame them for what their members chose. It's like blaming the county clerk for who won a political race. The voters chose. Fix the voters.

Silent Trade

The silent trade: universal objective ethics in action:

Once upon a time, back during the Age of Exploration, there was a marvellous practice called the “silent trade”. It was a solution to a serious coordination problem between groups who had no languages in common, or distrusted each other so much that they refused to come within range of each others’ weapons.

I do love interesting bits of trivia.