The Bluestocking, vol 119: Roll The Dice
Happy Friday!
Just a quickie this week, because I'm behind on answering my emails, for this reason. . .
See if I committed a libel at 9pm tonight, BBC One.
Helen
The Cancelled
Cancellation does present a question about power, and who has it.
“The biggest problem we have as a culture is that we can’t define who the establishment is,” Mr. Tavana said. “Is the establishment the woke media people who own 99 percent of the keyboards in the country, or is it the old, canceled guys in media? Who’s the punk rock band and who’s the corporate rock band?
This piece makes some big leaps, and is too broad in its definitions, but this is a key question to understand modern internet culture. Who's actually in charge?
Who is the real Dice Man?
Toward the end of the 1960s, Luke Rhinehart worked as a psychoanalyst in New York and was bored stiff. He lived in a pretty apartment with a nice view. He practised yoga, read books on Zen, dreamed vaguely of joining a commune but did not dare. As a therapist, he was resolutely nondirective. If a patient who still had not lost his virginity was plagued by sadistic impulses and said on Rhinehart’s couch that he would like to rape and kill a little girl, his professional ethics obliged him to repeat with a calm voice: “You’d like to rape and kill a little girl?” No judgment. But what he wanted to say was: “Well, go ahead, then! If what really turns you on is raping and killing a little girl, then stop boring me with this fantasy. Do it!”
This is by Emmanuel Carrère, whose essay collection my editor at Penguin pressed on to me last time I visited. On the strength of this piece, I will definitely give it a read.
I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on AirBnB
“It’s about three times bigger,” the man said. “That’s the good news.”
The bad news, which went unstated, was that I had unknowingly stumbled into a nationwide web of deception that appeared to span eight cities and nearly 100 property listings—an undetected scam created by some person or organization that had figured out just how easy it is to exploit Airbnb’s poorly written rules in order to collect thousands of dollars through phony listings, fake reviews, and, when necessary, intimidation. Considering Airbnb’s lax enforcement of its own policies, who could blame the scammers for taking advantage of the new world of short-term rental platforms? They had every reason to believe they could do so with impunity.
Why is Air BnB cheaper than hotels? Because hotels can't get away with doing this.
Quick Links
A new magazine has launched called The Critic, which I am devoutly hoping will fill the much-needed gap of "I'd like to know what sane, centre-right people think". The (not rightwing) Sarah Ditum has written for it, on loo-based culture wars.
"When a married man comes out later in life, positive reactions can be heartening. Rainbow garlands are unfurled. People applaud his bravery. They empathise with his struggle. They marvel at how he came through it and celebrate that he can finally be himself. They express gratitude we live in more enlightened times. Often entirely missing from this narrative is the woman’s voice." The other side of coming out stories.
"I asked her what an English person does when confronted with raging success. “I think you probably have one too many gin-and-tonics and have all your friends take the piss out of you,” she said." Enjoyable profile of Phoebe Waller-Bridge by Lauren Collins.
The Succession titles remixed with Boris Johnson.
Astronauts sleeping in space will, ironically, give you nightmares.
Guest gif:
See you next time!