Insert Coin for Dancing Monkey (3)

Patrons are reminded that this rickety barge is kept afloat by the kindness of strangers. If you’d like to help it remain buoyant for a while longer, there’s an orange button below with which to monetise any love for this low establishment. Debit and credit cards are accepted. For those wishing to express their love regularly, there’s a monthly subscription option top left. Additionally, any Amazon shopping done via this link or the search widget top right, or for Amazon US via this link, results in a small fee for your host at no extra cost to you. Now you can indulge your base appetites and feel saintly while doing it.

For newcomers wishing to know more about what’s been going on here for the last nine years, and in over 2,000 posts, the reheated series is a pretty good place to start. There you’ll find our leftist betters agonising at length and performing great feats of mental contortion. From a gloriously neurotic guide to inter-racial dating, and the extensive preconditions for ordering takeaway in a politically correct manner, to a deep rumination on litter inequality, and a Marxist academic’s belief that competent, caring parenting and reading to one’s children causes “unfair disadvantage” and should therefore induce feelings of guilt, being as it is an act of class oppression. 

Meanwhile, aesthetes among you can savour a wide, possibly baffling range of artistic projects, including some thrilling interactions with automated hand dryers, Shakespeare enhanced with underpants and shrieking, and the immense political radicalism of amplified trousers. If you can, do take a moment to poke through the discussion threads too. The posts are intended as starting points, not full stops, and the comments are where much of the good stuff is waiting to be found. And do please join in.

Again, thanks for the support, the comments, and the company. 

Comments

[Lurks here often]

Subscribed. Keep up the good work.

[S]

My eldest is at university and I send her some of your 'academia' posts. :-)

*hits tip jar*

[David]

My eldest is at university and I send her some of your ‘academia’ posts. :-)

Heh. I’d call that good parenting.

[STB190]

A small encouragement provided. Most enjoyable blog.

[Chaz]

Great blog, David. Have a drink or two on me.

[sH2]

Tipped.

[David]

In other news…

The new, more “diverse” and racially-sensitive campus, where insufficiently leftwing black scholars aren’t welcome.

[Steph]

where insufficiently leftwing black scholars aren’t welcome.

They don't even know what he was going to talk about. I'm so glad I'm not a student now.

[David]

They don’t even know what he was going to talk about.

Ah, but Mr Riley has at some point in the past dared to question leftist orthodoxy, and on one of The Sacred Subjects, no less. Which makes him the Wrong Kind Of Black Person™. He must therefore be punished with the public insult of ‘disinvitation’, thereby preventing further contamination.

[Hedgehog]

litter inequality

We need a government program, toot sweet.

[David]

litter inequality

Actually, I think that one is quite telling.

Setting aside the fantasies of demolishing homes that are nicer than the author’s own, there’s the casual acceptance of the notion of unfair litter distribution. Which is quite a concept, really. Especially as the basis for this new frontier of grievance is a report that admits that in fact much more is spent on cleaning and re-cleaning rougher parts of town – up to five times more than is spent on more respectable neighbourhoods. And the same report doesn’t even pause to consider how it is the litter gets there in the first place.

Indeed, the authors of the report are so determined to avoid any hint of personal agency and responsibility, and so determined to avoid any acknowledgement of rather obvious differences in behaviour, that the words “drop” and “littering” simply don’t appear anywhere in the report. Which leaves the reader to assume that nobody is actually dropping the litter, no-one is responsible for the tonnage of food-smeared detritus repeatedly being removed at taxpayer expense. It just appears, mysteriously, falling from the clouds like overnight snow.

And this is the standard of “social science.”

[R]

I'm a long time lurker and wanted to say thanks for many hours of good reading.

Some love has been monetized.

[David]

I’m a long time lurker and wanted to say thanks for many hours of good reading.

I do love it when lurkers de-lurk. Glad you’ve been entertained. And thanks to all who’ve chipped in so far. It’s much appreciated and it’s what keeps this place here. That, and sheer bloody-mindedness.

[Hedgehog]

It just appears, mysteriously, falling from the clouds like overnight snow.

Litter as a cargo cult.

[( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)]

Top blogging, Mr Thompson. You're one of my favorite destroyers of leftwing bullshit.
Tip jar hit.

[Daniel Ream]

thereby preventing further contamination.

Actually, I don't think that's it. It looks like they disinvited him due to the fear of protests erupting. This is exactly what the No Platform-ers want: they don't even have to protest any more, they've intimidated the venues into silence. There's a parallel here to Mark Steyn being unable to speak on the freedom to criticize Islam in Europe because none of the venues are willing to risk an attack on the conference.

[dicentra]

that nobody is actually dropping the litter

The 0.001% are dumping it out the windows of their private jets.

Doy.

[Spiny Norman]

litter inequality

Oh, that was a thread where the bait fish was squatting, and at his most dense.

Hitting the tip jar is appreciation of your patience with the aggressively ignorant.

[Em]

*kerching*

[Steve E]

“What makes Jason Riley’s disinvitation notable,” continued Wood, “is how little prompted it. No students threatened to protest his speech or wrote editorials denouncing his views. No one picketed the finance department. Riley’s speech hadn’t even been announced on campus. Mere fear of potential protest swayed Virginia Tech to cancel Riley’s pending event.”

It's Virginia Tech negotiating with itself like Cleavon Little in Blazing Saddles.

[David]

Mere fear of potential protest swayed Virginia Tech to cancel Riley’s pending event

And so the punishment of WrongThought™ is pre-emptive and in effect automated.

[Damn Yankee]

*tickles tip jar* There, that ought to cover some caulking for the barge. Much gratitude for one of my favorite reads...

[KS]

Small sum donated .... thanks for all the fun over the years

[Rafi]

*Hits tip jar*

[Peter]

Shakespeare enhanced with underpants and shrieking

Oh God, that video. :-)

[David]

Oh God, that video. :-)

I can’t help thinking it’s significant that the performers pretty much ignore the tiny audience and instead focus their attention entirely on themselves.

[bilbaoboy]

Minor contribution made.

Promise to do better next time round!

[mojo]

"Oh, crap!"

[David]

“Oh, crap!”

Heh. Poor Emma and pals, all self-righteous while inhaling liquefied shit. And you have to marvel at the obliviousness of someone who blathers about what she and her associates “will not allow” in “our countryside,” after travelling 200 miles from her capacious London home, climbing a farmer’s fence, disrupting his work at length, and while trespassing on his property.

[Liz]

If this blog was a five second video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIpkdusnIkE

[David]

Heh.

Someone fetch cake for Liz.

[Liz]

Nom nom nom. ;-)

[Spiny Norman]

"Oh, crap!"

What are they complaining about? That's organic farming!

(A fire hose might have been better, but whatever works.)

[Joan]

If this blog was a five second video.

*applauds*

[David]

And further to the last item here, serial vandal and deranged race-baiter Denzel McDonald – whose arrest supposedly caused a “mental health crisis” among faculty of the University of Wisconsin’s Department of Afro-American Studies – will not be charged for his actions. I.e., violent intimidation and thousands of dollars of damage:

McDonald’s contrition, apparently, is what swayed [Dane County District Attorney Ismael] Ozanne to drop the case, as she asserted that McDonald “understood the seriousness of his behaviour.” Additionally, Ozanne stated the McDonald was simply “trying to exercise his First Amendment rights” when he vandalised the campus police department office with spray-painted death threats.

I’m trying to imagine what would happen if a white student with a history of vandalism sprayed deranged racist graffiti across campus property and threatened to kill onlookers.

[Rich Rostrom]

Maybe it's just me, but the six Amazon widgets at the upper right are all for works of Julie Bindel. Google search of "site:davidthompson.typepad.com Julie Bindel" generates several hundred hits, nearly all of which seem to be for the Amazon widgets, so it's not just me. I would call this seriously misdirected dvertising.

[David]

I would call this seriously misdirected advertising.

Heh. I think it’s supposed to suggest items vaguely related to words used in each post. Sometimes it does. Not sure why the front page widget in particular is so fixated with Julie Bindel. Whose literary works, sadly, I can’t recommend.

[Sarah W]

Excellent blog. Happy to contribute.

[RY]

Thanks for great blog.

Tip jar hit. Very happily.

[mojo]

"...all self-righteous while inhaling liquefied shit."

Was that La Thompson herself squealing "call the police"? I hope so.

[Keef]

Shakespeare enhanced with underpants and shrieking,

F*ck me.

*bungs note in tip jar*

[Captain Nemo]

Tip jar tickled. Have a small something on me.

[Captain Nemo]

Urgh, preview fail. That should be "Have a small glass of something on me".

[David]

But I wanted a small something.

[Captain Nemo]

Well, a small something/a small glass of something: just pick whatever'll keep the barge afloat the longest.

[David]

Is it a puppy?
A hamster?
A tiny bunny in a glass?

[R. Sherman]

Tip jar hit.

Regarding the dancing monkey, I recall an especially bourgeois vacation back in my youth in Lake Ozark, Missouri, where I discovered a piano playing chicken. For a dime, the chicken would peck on a toy piano and then receive a couple of kernels of corn as a reward. Let me just say, your reading your blog is more satisfying than that experience.

So you've got that going for you.

[David]

Lake Ozark, Missouri, where I discovered a piano playing chicken.

Can’t really compete with a class act like that.

[R. Sherman]

Lake Ozark, Missouri.

Or, as we refer to it, "St. Tropez West."

And for the love of all things good, do not forget Branson.

[R. Sherman]

Can’t really compete with a class act like that.

Party Cove, Lake Ozark, Missouri.

[James]

Still catching up on your 'reheated' series. Good stuff.

Tip jar hit.

[Heather]

I keep trying to write something articulate, but clients keep calling me expecting me to actually work today. I would like to say thanks for the many laughs-especially that oppression by bacon sandwich article. That alone was worth placing a few bucks in the tip jar. Have some bacon on me!

[David]

Thanks again to all who’ve chipped in, or subscribed, or done shopping via the Amazon links and widget. It’s much appreciated.

[Neil]

Small token of appreciation in your tip jar.

[PiperPaul]

"A tiny bunny in a glass?"

That made my (and anyone else's who bothered to watch it) day. Merci.

[David]

Merci.

With hindsight, it’s an obvious storage solution.

[Jonathan]

In other news: Campus Diversity is the best thing ever! Unless you care about standards that is.

[Spiny Norman]

Merci.

Now I want a nap.

[Trevor]

Campus Diversity is the best thing ever!

It's our strength, you know.

[MF]

Happy to contribute. Excellent blog. :)

[Mags]

Finally subscribed.

[Alan]

You've got one of the best comment sections.

Drink voucher in tip jar.

[Paul]

Have put a little encouragement in your tip jar.

[Glen]

One of my favorite reads. Tip jar has been hit.

[Jonathan]

I for one welcome our new overlords:

[David]

I for one welcome our new overlords

She deserves no less.

[P]

Bunged you a few quid. Thanks for the laughs and insights.

[David]

If making me feel all warm and squishy is the goal, that’s the way to do it. Much appreciated.

[Spiny Norman]

Is that "OBEY" poster real, or is it a photoshop?

Please tell me it's real.

[Hal]

Please tell me it's real.

Oh, it's real photoshopped . . .

I was thinking that someone may have indeed worked really quickly on that one---Albeit begging the question of why bother regarding such an obscurity---and then noticed that the details of the poster are quite sharp edged, but all the details of the photo are a bit fuzzily just a hair off focus . . .

[Sc]

Loving the reheats. Tip jar hit.

[JP]

My eldest is at university and I send her some of your 'academia' posts. :-)

Same here. :-D

Love expressed via paypal.

[David]

Thank you. And to all who’ve chipped in, or subscribed, or done shopping via the Amazon widget and links. It makes a big difference to how much time I can spend here, either writing or gassing with you lot.

[Andy]

Late to the party but happy to chip in. Great blog.

[[+]]

Thanks for some great blogging, Mr Thompson. Tip jar has been hit.