Weekend linkage

1)

Why You Are Wrong. This applies to just about every internet debate out there.

I shall now appeal to authority by quoting a philosopher who agrees with my premise, thereby wrapping my argument in the wisdom of the ages. Yes, I said a philosopher—a guy who gets paid to sit around all day and think about stuff like this. Are you a philosopher? No? You don’t spend all day thinking about stuff? What’s that? This topic isn’t in your area of expertise at all? Just checking. Because my guy was thinking hard with his brain his whole life about stuff like this, and he agrees with me.

2)

"The seven deadliest fashion trends of all time." You know you want to read that.

3)

"Why Icelanders are wary of elves living beneath rocks." You want to read that too.

4)

Two from The Toast: "The Hobbit, Improved" (Chapter Ten: Absolutely Zero Goblins But Plenty Of Sandwiches And A Good Steady Fire) and "Every English Novel Ever" (make sure to read the suggestions in the comments, which had me laughing till tears came).

5)

Funny post on childhood obsessions (again, the comments are gold).

6)

"Snacks of the Great Scribblers." Whitman's did not surprise me at all.

7)

"The Pathetic Provincialism of American Feminists." Amen to this.

One of the few insights from Karl Marx still relevant is the need for international solidarity among oppressed people. If American women truly believed they were oppressed, they would have all the more reason to zealously advocate for the liberation of their African and Asian sisters . . . In an irony invisible to the Left, American feminism has become an elitist expression of upper-class concerns. Highly educated and paid women endlessly describe their own inconveniences, while ignoring the legitimate suffering of the poor, in foreign countries and their own cities.