The Decline of "Controversial"
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When I was a kid in 1970, the word “Controversial” was a term of praise, as illustrated by this ad for Robert Altman’s movie Brewster McCloud:
“CONTROVERSIAL … YES!!”
In 2019, however, “controversial” means “not respectable, probably should be deplatformed.”
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Contraversial starts with “con”, like conservative. Liberal, even leftist views are never controversial (nor are they extreme) – only rightist ones. In fact whatever is the leftist party line at the moment (and the Overton window keeps rolling to the left) is just the normal or correct view and is not controversial at all. So when Obama still opposed gay marriage this was not a controversial view at all. Today anyone who has this view is an “extremist”.
Joe Biden has been around long enough that this is a problem for him. All Kamala has to do is drag out his view from early in his career and he appears to be an “extremist” by 2019 standards. Can you believe that he once supported sending black people to jail when they committed crimes? Well I never….
I seem to remember something about young Bud training himself to fly inside the Houston Astrodome? Or was it just the brown acid?
From the era when students protested against speech codes. Of course, now students protest in favor of speech codes.
What has obviously happened is that our society has become more rigid and our people weaker.
But our movie posters got better (then they got much worse, recently, where all of them are just a photo of the main actor anyone could snap in seconds on their phone).
Also when you were a kid “conformity” was a bad thing.
Just wait until something is called neocontroversial.
OT: Why the Trump Administration is worthless, Chapter MCLVII
Why did Transperfect do such a dreadful thing? Because the law firm that was hiring it told it to, given the sensitive nature of the documents being reviewed.
Sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? But not to Trump’s Department of Justice.
Read more at: https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/1197332/transperfect-can-t-duck-bias-claims-from-law-firm-project?nl_pk=7e2f9717-5042-4b74-baaf-647e178f00e1&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=competition&read_more=1?copied=1
Joe Biden has been around long enough that this is a problem for him. All Kamala has to do is drag out his view from early in his career and he appears to be an "extremist" by 2019 standards. Can you believe that he once supported sending black people to jail when they committed crimes? Well I never....Replies: @IHTG
That must mean the word “libertarian” is really annoying for liberals.
They’re trying way too hard with the promo. It was a box office flop no doubt.
SCOTUS finally comes through:
off topic, let’s just check in on what David French is tweeting about for 9/11
Hm, let’s see, his take is “we should all be thankful for what a great job the establishment is doing”
literally
GROOVY.
Bud Cort was an alt-Superstar for a few years back in the late 60’s early 70’s. MASH, Strawberry Statment, Brewster Mc Cloud, Harold and Maude. I wonder what happened to him.
Serrano’s government funded “Piss Christ” was controversial and challenging.
What about a rainbow flag in a vat of urine? Would anyone have the guts to try it?
And if a brave queer person would try to save it Rick Monday-style…would you stand up for artistic freedom of go running afraid of the spray?
Is art challenging enough for you?
(Except that it's just meaningless defilement that goes nowhere and cost him nothing.)
And why do the fates conspire against us so Tuesday Weld never married Rick Monday?
Tuesday Monday could have adopted Wednesday Addams so we could get Wednesday Tuesday Monday.
The fates are cruel.
Im not sure we could have a hot lips fantastic blonde character anymore either. Except in porn where anything goes.
Hopefully its cyclical. Whats certain is marketing is now desperate to prevent anything that the broader media will use to either sue them or limit sales.
Like everything else, its turned into just another racket, not literature art or social critique.
Steve
Off topic:
27 Retired US Army Generals and Admirals sign a letter calling for a massive increase in Muslim LEGAL IMMIGRANTS comming to the US…
What I saw this past summer…..18 years after 9/11….
1)Lake George NY has been handed over to Muslim Men dressed in TALIBAN-Al QUEDA-ISIS outfits sporting the scraggly Taliban-Isis-Al Queda beards…Pregnant Muslim wives wearing the purple Afghanistan Poppy Field outfits….The extended Patel Family Family own all the Hotels in Lake George….
2)I saw 1)driving past Harbes Farm out in the North Fork Farm Country(Long Island East End)
…..picking black raseberries….it looked like a scene from an Afghanistan Poppy Field…
Quiz time for Steve’s Readers:What did three star General Casey say after the incident at Fort Hood….
TREASON IS THE REASON!!!!
1965
This is the census data from 2000.
Did this really happen or are you exagerating?
I often ask people: when is the last time you saw the the bumper sticker “Question Authority” on a liberal’s car?
Nowadays you’re more likely to see it on a Deplorable’s car.
Nowadays you're more likely to see it on a Deplorable's car.Replies: @Redneck farmer, @trelane, @NOTA
“Question Authority” is only popular with people who don’t have any.
Nowadays you're more likely to see it on a Deplorable's car.Replies: @Redneck farmer, @trelane, @NOTA
Or a vanity plate like BRDSHT
Nowadays you're more likely to see it on a Deplorable's car.Replies: @Redneck farmer, @trelane, @NOTA
Why, it’s almost like the issue is *which* authorities we’re to question!
What about a rainbow flag in a vat of urine? Would anyone have the guts to try it?
And if a brave queer person would try to save it Rick Monday-style...would you stand up for artistic freedom of go running afraid of the spray?
Is art challenging enough for you?Replies: @J.Ross, @Known Fact
I cannot believe Serrano put an antique Torah scroll in a large glass jar of labeled urine. The balls on that guy.
(Except that it’s just meaningless defilement that goes nowhere and cost him nothing.)
“Controversial,” adj., Anything or anybody we don’t like.
I was thinking this might be about one of those fascinating media word-usage charts we’ve seen lately, showing “controversial” actually dwindling from the lexicon after some peak years. But I’m sure the word will remain in use as long as there’s some common-sense proposal or mildly outspoken conservative figure guilty of arousing media disdain.
54 genders or free stuff for illegals? Nope, nothing “controversial” about that
What about a rainbow flag in a vat of urine? Would anyone have the guts to try it?
And if a brave queer person would try to save it Rick Monday-style...would you stand up for artistic freedom of go running afraid of the spray?
Is art challenging enough for you?Replies: @J.Ross, @Known Fact
Did the relentlessly pretty good Rick Monday ever imagine he was about to make one of the most legendary plays in baseball history?
“When I was a kid in 1970, the word “Controversial” was a term of praise, as illustrated by this ad for Robert Altman’s movie Brewster McCloud…”
You mean one data point lends support to what you thought at the time was a word that meant endearment. Nostalgia can play tricks on one’s mind.
“2019, however, “controversial” means “not respectable, probably should be deplatformed.”
That would be a great platform for you to run on, Mr. Sailer. Now more than ever you should run for political office. You have the clout. You have the funding.
Or am I being too controversial?
That movie inspired Where’s Waldo?.
Controversial doesn’t mean problematic, yet. It means that there are two sides, and they are perceived to be more polarized than general, like those Amazon reviews that have a U-shaped curve, lots of 5s and lots of 1s.
You can produce your own ad hoc, Oxford English Dictionary-esque usage corpus by searching Google for “controversial site:nytimes.com” and so on with various URLs.
What I saw this past summer.....18 years after 9/11....1)Lake George NY has been handed over to Muslim Men dressed in TALIBAN-Al QUEDA-ISIS outfits sporting the scraggly Taliban-Isis-Al Queda beards...Pregnant Muslim wives wearing the purple Afghanistan Poppy Field outfits....The extended Patel Family Family own all the Hotels in Lake George....2)I saw 1)driving past Harbes Farm out in the North Fork Farm Country(Long Island East End)
.....picking black raseberries....it looked like a scene from an Afghanistan Poppy Field...
Quiz time for Steve’s Readers:What did three star General Casey say after the incident at Fort Hood....TREASON IS THE REASON!!!!1965Replies: @UrbaneFrancoOntarian, @Jack D
The racial makeup of the village is 97.36% White, 1.02% Black or African American, 0.10% Native American, 0.61% Asian, 0.30% from other races, and 0.61% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.71% of the population.
This is the census data from 2000.
Did this really happen or are you exagerating?
Tuesday Monday could have adopted Wednesday Addams so we could get Wednesday Tuesday Monday.
The fates are cruel.Replies: @Paleo Liberal, @JimDandy, @ScarletNumber, @Reg Cæsar
The Twi people sometimes name their kids according to what day of the week, especially if the kid was born on a Friday. Kofi is a very common Twi name, meaning a boy born on Friday. The most famous Twi was Kofi Annan.
What I saw this past summer.....18 years after 9/11....1)Lake George NY has been handed over to Muslim Men dressed in TALIBAN-Al QUEDA-ISIS outfits sporting the scraggly Taliban-Isis-Al Queda beards...Pregnant Muslim wives wearing the purple Afghanistan Poppy Field outfits....The extended Patel Family Family own all the Hotels in Lake George....2)I saw 1)driving past Harbes Farm out in the North Fork Farm Country(Long Island East End)
.....picking black raseberries....it looked like a scene from an Afghanistan Poppy Field...
Quiz time for Steve’s Readers:What did three star General Casey say after the incident at Fort Hood....TREASON IS THE REASON!!!!1965Replies: @UrbaneFrancoOntarian, @Jack D
Patels are mostly Hindus from India. Most Hindus from India like Muslims even less than white people.
Media product in the 70’s was always being hyped up as “irreverant.”
You mean one data point lends support to what you thought at the time was a word that meant endearment. Nostalgia can play tricks on one's mind.
"2019, however, “controversial” means “not respectable, probably should be deplatformed.”
That would be a great platform for you to run on, Mr. Sailer. Now more than ever you should run for political office. You have the clout. You have the funding.
Or am I being too controversial?Replies: @Mr. Anon, @Lot
That was one example. There are many others, idiot.
You’re safe then, since you don’t seem to have one.
No, just too stupid, as usual, you nitwit.
It is common for the media to describe things that majorities of people think – even overwhelming majorities – as “controversial”.
That is correct. It’s an enjoyably absurd, dark satire. Of all the directors to emerge from the “New Hollywood” period of the early 70s, Altman was the most genuinely original artist, right up superb late films like “Gosford Park” and “Prairie Home Companion”.
I saw Patton Oswalt do a stand-up routine a few years ago in which he described running into Bud Cort in a cafe in the Los Feliz neighborhood next to Hollywood), and Bud coochy-cooing Oswalt’s baby. (The gist of the joke was that Oswalt had recently moved to this hipster neighborhood and decided after encountering Cort that he wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.)
Tuesday Monday could have adopted Wednesday Addams so we could get Wednesday Tuesday Monday.
The fates are cruel.Replies: @Paleo Liberal, @JimDandy, @ScarletNumber, @Reg Cæsar
I just like the Rick Monday reference. If he saved an American flag from being burnt by Puerto Ricans today, he’d probably be arrested for a hate crime.
Tuesday Monday could have adopted Wednesday Addams so we could get Wednesday Tuesday Monday.
The fates are cruel.Replies: @Paleo Liberal, @JimDandy, @ScarletNumber, @Reg Cæsar
Tuesday Weld should have married Ted Knight.
Bud Cort looks like Austin Powers here.
Bud Cort’s real name was Walter Cox, necessitating a change.
Movie posters were much more expressive back then. To Sir with Love had: A story as fresh as the girls in their minis, while Beyond the Valley of the Dolls had: This is NOT a sequel – there has never been anything like it.
As for Altman, he was bitter about his lack of financial remuneration from MASH. He would refer to the star of the TV version as “Alan Albert”. His son composed the lyrics to the theme song. Therefore, every time it got played on TV, he got paid, even though the lyrics were unheard. Altman fils made MUCH more than his dad on MASH. This is similar to Johnny Carson writing the never-heard lyrics to his theme song, forcing the author of the music to share royalties. That author, of course, was
Tuesday Monday could have adopted Wednesday Addams so we could get Wednesday Tuesday Monday.
The fates are cruel.Replies: @Paleo Liberal, @JimDandy, @ScarletNumber, @Reg Cæsar
Tuesday Weld, Sigourney Weaver, and Season Hubley were all christened Susan.
How twee of them.
There was a couple named August and June March in a church I attended once.
His teenage son made many times what his dad did from M*A*S*H. He did the lyrics for the theme, and gets the royalties even though it’s almost always heard as an instrumental. Altman fils has probably never had to work.
@Steve Sailer, until 1973 or so, Deep Throat was a “controversial” film, and not yet some guy now installed in the Media-Leftist-Complex’s Pantheon of Heros of The Republic.
“Groovy”, however, was always idiotic.
You mean one data point lends support to what you thought at the time was a word that meant endearment. Nostalgia can play tricks on one's mind.
"2019, however, “controversial” means “not respectable, probably should be deplatformed.”
That would be a great platform for you to run on, Mr. Sailer. Now more than ever you should run for political office. You have the clout. You have the funding.
Or am I being too controversial?Replies: @Mr. Anon, @Lot
Spend any time looking at advertising from the 60s and 70s and you will see “controversial” used as a positive point. It was especially common to promote movies.