The Invisible Counterpoint

Patrick McEvoy-Halston 4 hrs · Lots of talk now about how more than half of voting Americans voted for someone other than Trump. There's anticipation that they might yet sideline this guy, trip him up. But we liberals are only getting a small taste now of the number of Americans that will be abandoning us. It's going to grow and grow, as Trump successfully creates his version of America as a land of newly purified folk, who've recommitted themselves to a country they'd forsaken, that'll include a vast number of people who aren't white. If we're committed now to being wiser so we aren't surprised by future developments, we might remember how surprised we were just recently that so many of our friends whom we thought were feminists revealed themselves, in their obscene hatred of Hillary, as greatly misogynistic Bernie Bros, and shouldn't assume that this phenomena of corruption within what we thought was a heart of god has been s...

"Immoral", Patrick? What word is left for people who steal and rape if you're gonna call a group "immoral" for disagreeing with you on film quality. Jesus. (Daniella Isaacs, response to post, Mike Ryan, “ Armond White Responds to Lisa Schwarzbaum’s NYFCC Complaints by Calling Her Racist,” Movieline, 20 January 2011) I think it's high quality, Daniella, but I do think it immoral -- meaning that I think it's a film aiming for high acclaim that couldn't really care less for those without the talent to reach a kind of co-equality with entrenched Mayflower-descendent types: the bulk of most joe and jane facebook users out there. I think it "argues" that we really ought to be keying in on these people, be fascinated by them, because, despite their debauch, they CAN work significant wonders, while the rest of you out there enjoy the genuine magic but only to come up with your own flat notes of nothing. When people are at real risk of los...

“Just ignore them; they’re as frightened as we are” (“Hey man!” Kids in the Hall) I did not go quietly into that lonely and unpopular night. Each morning, I tried to assume a casual air of friendship. Big mistake. My efforts backfired, and my former friends’ apathy toward me turned to hatred. Soon, I was not just ignored at school. I was tripped as I came out of the shower. People made flatulent noises when I sat down in class. My locker was magic-markered with the word "loser." We are tempted to remember this behavior and make light of it. Oh, it couldn’t have been that bad, we said. But I remember it well. It was that bad. [. . .] Whatever my intention was when I contacted my former friends, it’s different now. I no longer want validation; I no longer am testing the waters to see if they now find me worth their time. These women are not who I thought they’d be. They’re people having a hard time in the economy, people who are struggling through their days, their rel...