“A Human World”
by
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
(from Our Androcentric Culutre; or, The Man Made World)
In the change from the dominance of one sex to the equal power of two, to what may we look forward? What effect upon civilization is to be expected from the equality of womanhood in the human race?
To put the most natural question first—what will men lose by it? Many men are genuinely concerned about this; fearing some new position of subservience and disrespect. Others laugh at the very idea of change in their position, relying as always on the heavier fist. So long as fighting was the determining process, the best fighter must needs win; but in the rearrangement of processes which marks our age, superior physical strength does not make the poorer wealthy, nor even the soldier a general.
The major processes of life to-day are quite within the powers of women; women are fulfilling their new relations more and more successfully; gathering new strength, new knowledge, new ideals. The change is upon us; what will it do to men?
No harm.
As we are a monogamous race, there will be no such drastic and cruel selection among competing males as would eliminate the vast majority as unfit. Even though some be considered unfit for fatherhood, all human life remains open to them. Perhaps the most important feature of this change comes in right here; along this old line of sex-selection, replacing that power in the right hands, and using it for the good of the race.
The woman, free at last, intelligent, recognizing her real place and responsibility in life as a human being, will be not less, but more, efficient as a mother. She will understand that, in the line of physical evolution, motherhood is the highest process; and that her work, as a contribution to an improved race, must always involve this great function. She will see that right parentage is the purpose of the whole scheme of sex-relationship, and act accordingly.
In our time, his human faculties being sufficiently developed, civilized man can look over and around his sex limitations, and begin to see what are the true purposes and methods of human life. Continue reading ““A Human World” — Charlotte Perkins Gilman”
[Editorial note: The following citations come from one-star Amazon reviews J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel The Hobbit (a book I’ve always loved). I’ve preserved the reviewers’ original punctuation and spelling. More one-star Amazon reviews.].
Dwarves.
The Hobbit stinks.
It is just so boreing.
“DEATH TO HOBBITS!”
This is such a horrible book.
Gandalf the wizard is a bogus
Swoar, lil’ fools wack for REALL.
And what’s this thing about hairy feet?
Crying because the story will NOT END!
my mom liked it (what’s wrong with her? )
Spend your money on Harry Potter instead.
I dought we will ever finish this horrible book.
No offense, but the suspense was not at all amusing
I know for a fact that there are several of Hobbit fans.
Bilbo is a Hobbit who seems not to do much in the story.
it was as if a ten year old coul’ve made up these characters.
forget about all the other reviews. they just think bilbo the bimbo is hot.
This is a dangerous book and is an extremely bad influence on adolescents.
Not only that, it is also more boring than having tea with nan and the relatives.
There is no action and Bilbo Baggins is the biggest a$$ in a fantasy novel ever.
This is a prime example of what happens when Star Trek and Star Wars dorks pick up a book.
No originality whatsoever is involved and the pages make me wish I was not even in existence.
After reading literary masterpieces by Robert Jordan, and Aurther C. Clark, books like these seem pointless.
The book is about a young hobit that goes on an adventurer to get rid of a ring that if you w where it you turn e ebook
One more things on the dwarves. They are useless characters and this story makes me want to vomit.
This book is a story of your everyday savior (supposedly Bilbo) having adventures and slaying a dragon.
The ending of the story is horrible and it seems that Tolkien wasted his POOR and SENSELESS usage of his brain.
They also don’t fit the spirit of dwarves, but then again after time they evolved into the grumpy alchoholics fantasy tends to portray them as.
I sit there reading every single word of it, but I think about something else. I read “Bilbo blah blah blah,” but think “Oh what am I gonna do today after school?”
Bilbo is not exactly the character which you would find addicted to. He stammers and is basically a coward.
This yogurt tastes awful! This is the worst yogurt I have ever tasted!
And like all stories, there are monsters and strange happenings.
What was I drinking when I decided to read this piece of junk?
:-( Boo! :-( Boo! :-( Boo! :-( Boo! :-( Boo!:-(
I despise and loathe this series tremendously.
I’m just glad this guy’s dead. :)
Bilbo reminds me of a pig.
“DIE HOBBITS, DIE!”
Idiotic and Irritating.
to many characters!
this is some butt
Agghhh!
From Apocalypse Now (1979); dir. Francis Ford Coppola with cinematography by Vittorio Storaro.
I asked the Cardinal questions, we had a conversation.
“I am thinking of a happy island more beautiful than can be imagined,” I said.
“I am thinking of a golden mountain which does not exist,” he said.
“Upon what does the world rest?” I asked.
“Upon an elephant,” he said.
“Upon what does the elephant rest?”
“Upon a tortoise.”
“Upon what does the tortoise rest?”
“Upon a red lawnmower.”
I wrote in my book, playful.
“Is there any value that has value?” I asked.
“If there is any value that has value, then it must lie outside the whole sphere of what happens and is the case, for all that happens and is the case is accidental.” He was not serious. I wrote in my book, knows the drill.
From Donald Barthelme’s story “See the Moon?”
July has been a strange month. The other day I went to the beach and I saw a woman of about thirty, pretty, wearing a black bikini, who was reading standing up. At first I thought she was about to lie down on her towel, but when I looked again she was still standing, and after that I didn’t take my eyes off her. For two hours, more or less, she read standing up, walked over to the water, didn’t go in, let the waves lap her shins, went back to her spot, kept reading, occasionally put the book down while still standing, leaned over a few times and took a big bottle of Pepsi out of a bag and drank, then picked up the book again, and, finally, without ever bending a knee, put her things away and left. Earlier the same day, I saw three girls, all in thongs, gorgeous, one of them had a tattoo on one buttock, they were having a lively conversation, and every once in a while they got in the water and swam and then they would lie down again on their mats, basically a completely normal scene, until all of a sudden, a cell phone rang, I heard it and thought it was mine until I realized it had been a while since I had a cell phone, and then I knew the phone belonged to one of them. I heard them talking. All I can say is that they weren’t speaking Catalan or Spanish. But they sounded deadly serious. Then I watched two of them get up, like zombies, and walk toward some rocks. I got up too and pretended to brush the sand off my trunks. On the rocks, I watched them talk to a huge, hideously ugly man covered in hair, in fact one of the hairiest men I’ve ever seen in my life. They knelt before him and listened attentively without saying a word, and then they went back to where their friend was waiting for them and everything went on as before, as if nothing had happened. Who are these women? I asked myself once it was dark and I had showered and dressed. One drank Pepsi. The others bowed down to a bear. I know who they are. But I don’t really know.
From Roberto Bolaño’s Between Parentheses: Essays, Articles and Speeches, 1998-2003.
RIP the great James Tate (1943-2015).
Biblioklept 