Banging It Out!
The Cultural, Political, and Poetic Musings of Larry R. Carter
Friday, April 12, 2024
DEATH
QUIXOTE
Tuesday, January 23, 2024
The Lifting
Women bring different aesthetic to sports, especially when they compete in events like tennis, gymnastics, and figure skating. There, they provoke a unique rapture of their own design, and our earthbound spirits are lifted.
But, don't get it twisted. These ladies can defy gravity, too. Ever see a female olympian throw a hammer, hurl a discuss, or stride hurdles like a two-legged gazelle? and, don't get me started on those female weight-lifters, especially the little ladies, (such heart) - heaving great weights above Earth's immense head, even as gravity, itself, demand they drop that load... now! "Not yet," they seem to say, as they push their burdens to the roof. Talk about "chill bumps."
Recently, the International Olympic Committee has announced that starting in Paris , in 2024, they will introduce female "flag football" as an Olympic event. It is a patronizing gesture. Women do not need it. They are doing fine without that kind of help. (Thank you very much.)
First, flag football is a children's game, one that is safe and inconclusive. It is not a sport like the majority of Olympic disciplines that athletes spend a lifetime perfecting. To be called an Olympian should be a hallowed honor, one that comes only after years of pain, sacrifice, and sheer determination. Even as children, we played flag football only when we were not allowed to play real football. Now, for playing a glorified game of "flag", you want to call these ladies, "Olympians". The Greeks of Marathon will be turning over in their graves.
Monday, December 18, 2023
It is Simple Math: Two Wrongs Don't make a Right
Israel's Mossad is one of the most effective intelligence agencies on Earth. Their network of informers riddle the ranks of Hamas, Hezbollah, Fatah, and even the Iranian government. So, how is it that a ragtag group of Hamas of fighters with a couple of bulldozers can breach Israel's multi-billion dollar wall separating Gaza from Israel, and commence in a wholesale slaughter of Israelis? Egyptian intelligence informed Israel that an attack might be imminent, as well as did the U.S. Bibi did nothing. Now, he has carte blanche to level Gaza, and soon turn it into a series of Israeli settlements extending the full length of what used to be the Gaza Strip.
Speaking of math: The customary ratio of dead Palestinians to dead Israelis in these affairs is 10:1, even as high as 20:1. This current affair started out 1:1, when 200 dead Israelis matched the 200 dead Palestinians. A weak later, it was about 2:1 - 2400 dead Palestinians, 1300 dead Israelis.
Maybe, when that ratio grows to the standard imbalance and the number of Israeli human rights violations shame even Joe Biden and America's media horde, we will unclip our tongues and speak out for humanity.
Friday, December 15, 2023
Asymmetrical War: A Euphemism for "Shooting Fish in a Barrel"
A Fox News correspondent reporting on the conflict between Israel and Hamas declared: "This is a war between good and evil." No, it is not.
Israel has occupied Gaza since 1967. It has blockaded Gaza by land, air, and sea for the past 16 years, rendered that impoverished territory of over two million Palestinians on open-air prison. President Carter has likened Israel's treatment of the Palestinian people to apartheid. The Gazans, like any humans would anywhere, have resisted the occupation and the subsequent blockade, at times resorting to terrorist acts because they have no vote, no say in this Israeli democracy. Neither side is good; neither side is evil. They are occupier and occupied; oppressor and oppressed. One side is strong, and the other refuses to be weak.
In the wake of Hamas' brutal attack upon Israel's border communities on Oct. 7, Israel has been lavished with goodwill from the international community. It is predictable that Israel will squander that goodwill by committing an even more brutal act of vengeance. Israel's prime minister, Netanyahu, has already vowed to "exact a price that will be remembered by Israel's enemies for decades to come." Of course you will, Netanyahu. It is your nature to "out-cruel" all adversaries. Israel will attack Gaza with tanks, planes, artillery, and over 300,000 soldiers. Hamas will counter with a forces less than 20,000. They call that imbalance "asymmetrical warfare."
What is to come in Gaza will remind us of the movie, "Cool Hand Luke" and the prison fight between Luke and the hulking, Dragline. When the fight starts, the other prisoners look on. The scrawny, Luke, played by Paul Newman, is game, but the entire time, he looks like he is trying to fight his way out of the proverbial "paper bag.," Each time Dragline, played by George Kennedy, hits Luke, Luke goes down and the crowd cheers. Soon, the cheering stops as Dragline pummels the pathetic Luke. Finally, one of the prisoners, shamefaced at his participation in the spectacle, turns away and mumbles, "Somebody ought to stop this thing."
That is a glimpse of coming attractions. The world community will soon beg for a stoppage of the slaughter. Even the warden, Joe Biden, who vowed, "unending support" for the Israel effort, will have seen enough.
Monday, October 30, 2023
A.I. Ain't Writin'
Artificial Intelligence shall permeate our lives, and cause us to question everything our fellow humans do: "Did you write that?" "Did you create that all by yourself?" "Did you really catch that ball, or did those techno-gloves catch that ball for you?' It's a fair question. "Are you insulated?"
The Hollywood writers have settled their strike (for the most part) against the television studios. Those same writers who whined about A.I. stealing their jobs, according to the settlement, can now use A.I., themselves, to complement their work. Chances are, many of these so-called "writers" may not be true "writers", at all. Chances are, many of them have no more true writing talent than I have singing or drawing talent, though I do like to sing, and dabble.
A.I. uses recycled content to create its poems, essays, and scripts, just as many Hollywood writers have been using recycled content for years, and pushing it off as their own "genius." We know better when we see so many television scripts and movies look and sound like the ones before.
There was a time, in football, when we would marvel at the "great, soft hands" of elite receivers. You never hear such talk anymore because, now, they all wear gloves - even in 80 degree temperatures! - which obscure those with "great hands" from those with "good hands." It is the gloves that secure the ball on contact. These gloves - I call them "techno-gloves" - are a form of A.I. You might ask, "Why don't the gifted receivers chuck the gloves, and show the world how "real men" once did it? Too late for that. Today, a great receiver without the techno-gloves is like a great guitarist without an amplifier.
The truth is: The studios have little respect for their so-called "writers" because they see little "true talent" among the lot of them. That is why the studios were so slow to settle. And, even then, look at the terms of the settlement: Where the UAW is asking for 20%, 10%, and 10% raise over the next three years, the writers have settled for a 5%, 4%, and 3% raise over the same period. It would seem that is apropos to the talent these writers apparently bring to work.
Great writers never need A.I. When writers couple with A.I., they cease to be writers; they become construction workers. I say, "Let A.I. have the touchdowns. It ain't writin'."