Botany Boy
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botany-boy.bsky.social
Botany Boy
@botany-boy.bsky.social
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botany-boy.bsky.social
Reading the transcript of the 1993 Peter David vs Todd MacFarlane debate and holy shit MacFarlane is Michael Scott:

[𝘔𝘤𝘍𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘣𝘰𝘹, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺. 𝘏𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥.]
As if you don't know who they are, I'll introduce our two debaters. [Throughout the introduction, McFarlane is visibly undressing behind his podium and donning yellow boxer shorts and a bathrobe, slinging a towel so that it completely covers his head and shoulders.] I'll do it alphabetically. He is the writer of The Incredible Hulk and Sachs & Violens and, more germane to this particular debate, the writer of the regular weekly column in Comics Buyer's Guide, But I Digress, Mr. Peter David. [Audience ovation] And [Pérez eyes McFarlane's new state of dress, including covered face] - This isn't a rebuttal yet! This wasn't the three minutes you were talking about, are they, Mr. McFarlane? (McFarlane doesn't respond.] And, if words don't fail me now, I guess visuals will have to. OK, the creator of Spawn and co-founder of Image Comics, and easily one of the more influential people in this business, Mr. Todd McFarlane. [McFarlane turns on a boom box, which fails to play. He sits back down, without a word.]
May 26, 2025 at 9:37 PM
botany-boy.bsky.social
In today's NYT column, noted ally to sex pests everywhere Steven Pinker mounts an ostensible defense of Harvard that includes this unhinged paragraph:
Most of my colleagues, too, follow the data and report what their findings indicate or show, however politically incorrect. A few examples: Race has some biological reality. Marriage reduces crime. So does hot-spot policing. Racism has been in decline. Phonics is essential to reading instruction. Trigger warnings can do more harm than good. Africans were active in the slave trade. Educational attainment is partly in the genes. Cracking down on drugs has benefits, and legalizing them has harms. Markets can make people fairer and more generous. For all the headlines, day-to-day life at Harvard consists of publishing ideas without fear or favor.
May 23, 2025 at 10:45 AM
botany-boy.bsky.social
One side has been physically and verbally harassed.

The other has ideological issues with course material.
The report on anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, and anti-Palestinian bias said the atmosphere of fear and intimidation was the product of doxing trucks displaying pro-Palestine students as antisemitic, and verbal and physical assaults on Muslim, Arab, Palestinian, and pro-Palestine students, as well as perceived indifference from University administrators. The antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias task force identified "politicized instruction" as a source of intolerance and extensively reviewed student complaints of bias in Harvard's academic programs. Its report singled out individual courses - including at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Harvard School of Public Health - that it allegedly presented a one-sided view of the Israel-Palestine conflict. The report also identified specific course texts as objectionable, which it claimed presented false characterizations of Israeli actions in Gaza, described Jewish opponents of California's K-12 ethnic studies curriculum in antisemitic terms, or minimized Jewish land claims in Israel by presenting Israeli Jews as settlers. Some of the materials were removed from syllabi in subsequent iterations of the courses.
May 6, 2025 at 3:18 AM
botany-boy.bsky.social
Harvard's task force reports have arrived, and the anti-Arab & anti-Israeli sides have very different findings:

One side is scared of being doxxed.

The other side wants to make it easier to dox.
The task forces agreed that protest policies should be updated, but diverged on how Harvard should change them. The task forces both reported widespread concerns among students over protest policies and the University's system for filing complaints of bias. But the reports diverged over how best to ameliorate the issues. The anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, and anti-Palestinian task forces found that doxing has contributed significantly to a climate of fear and intimidation on campus. In response, the group suggested that Harvard offer all affiliates, including alumni doxed in the 2023-24 academic year, free legal services for combating doxxing attacks. It also proposed training sessions on how to combat doxing for faculty, staff, and students. The University did not immediately appear to endorse the recommendation, but pointed to updated guidance on doxing that it released in September 2024. The antisemitism task force, meanwhile, urged Harvard to ban masks at protests, a move that would allow the Harvard University Police Department to more easily identify protesters who violate University policies. The group argued that enforcing protest guidelines more stringently would ensure demonstrations don't grade into "harassment, bullying, or intimidation." Masking is a common practice at many pro-Palestine rallies, and banning it was a central point in the Trump administration's demands to Harvard. The recommendation, which has not yet been publicly endorsed by the University, could draw significant pushback from protesters concerned about doxing.
May 6, 2025 at 3:18 AM
botany-boy.bsky.social
Ezra Klein: "Do you think these specific actors are contributing to politicized misogyny?"

David Shor: "Well polls say that young people are anxious and care about money. This has nothing to do with the economy. I blame social media and phones, generically."
Ezra Klein: Peterson and Tate are global figures. David Shor: Exactly. I agree with that. We're in the midst of a big cultural change that I think people are really underestimating. If you look at zoomers, there are some really interesting ways that they're very different in the data. They're much more likely than previous generations to say that making money is extremely important to them. If you look at their psychographic data, they have a lot higher levels of psychometric neuroticism and anxiety than the people before them. If I were going to speculate, I'd say phones and social media have a lot to do with this. How that translates into partisan politics depends on what the parties do. But I think it's a big shift.
May 5, 2025 at 2:03 PM
botany-boy.bsky.social
He knows that Rumeysa Ozturk did nothing wrong. His solution is that we shouldn't have let her in America in the first place.
The case of Rumeysa Ozturk is particularly disturbing....The extent of her “activities in support of Hamas” appears limited to co-writing an op-ed criticizing the university’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war. In defending its actions, the Trump administration is citing a 2005 amendment to a 73-year-old law giving the secretary of State the power to deport anyone whose continued presence in the United States would have potentially “serious adverse foreign policy consequences.” Whatever adverse consequences Ozturk may have on American foreign policy, the consequences of her being targeted for deportation based on nothing more than her words are far worse. Now, every immigrant and visa holder, no matter their status, must be especially vigilant when discussing American politics, international affairs — conceivably any subject — in a way that upsets the government. This is obviously bad for immigrants, many of whom fled societies where expressing an unpopular viewpoint can land one in prison, or worse. But it’s also bad for American citizens, living in a country where the government feels ever more emboldened to clamp down on free expression. While the arrest and deportation of legal immigrants for expressing opinions has clear First Amendment implications, the exclusion of foreigners on the basis of their statements and beliefs does not. Rather than deporting people who come to this country legally only to espouse extremist views and endorse violence, the U.S. government should do a better job preventing their entry in the first place.
May 5, 2025 at 2:31 AM
botany-boy.bsky.social
Hey New York Times, your title's missing the word "White".
White House Assesses Ways to Persuade Women to Have More Children Baby bonuses and menstrual cycle classes are among the ideas pitched to Trump aides as they consider plans to try boosting the birthrate.
April 21, 2025 at 4:18 PM
botany-boy.bsky.social
Today's New York Times article about Blaire Fleming & trans athletes says that, "Supporters of inclusion view those who hesitate or have questions as bigots."

Notably, none of the "supporters of inclusion" they interviewed for the article said anything even close to this.
Supporters of inclusion view those who hesitate or have questions as bigots. The notion that someone they disagree with might be acting in good faith is inconceivable.
April 20, 2025 at 11:57 AM
botany-boy.bsky.social
Jesus Christ
Moderator, Katherine Miller And are you happy about that, or do you have mixed feelings or feel disappointed about anything? John, 29, Texas, Black, construction manager Yeah, I'm happy about that. Although these are some hard decisions - a couple of friends that have been deported, stuff like that. So I'm sad at the same time.
April 18, 2025 at 11:48 AM
botany-boy.bsky.social
Pamela Paul gave a list of her favorite columns in her farewell today. They're all wrong. Almost all of them. Did she even go back and reread any of them?
April 3, 2025 at 10:33 AM
botany-boy.bsky.social
This Texas mom in today's NYT blames anti-vaccine sentiment on the ideological stridency of the public health agencies. She does this while pretending that her community is devoid of political motivation.
March 31, 2025 at 11:08 AM
botany-boy.bsky.social
What broke in these people's brains that they can only parse things in terms of woke or non-woke?
March 30, 2025 at 7:06 PM
botany-boy.bsky.social
They still couldn't help themselves and slipped this in. No self-recrimination at all.
March 15, 2025 at 7:52 PM
botany-boy.bsky.social
Was this paragraph necessary, or even accurate?
March 15, 2025 at 7:46 PM
botany-boy.bsky.social
The Atlantic: "Cancel culture cancelculture CANCEL CULTURE!"

The Atlantic, later: "Whatever happened to scandal?
March 14, 2025 at 10:48 AM
botany-boy.bsky.social
In 1964's Daredevil #1, Stan has Matt use his supersenses to do some super-tailoring. He even arrives at his palette through synesthesia (which explains a lot).
March 11, 2025 at 11:46 AM
botany-boy.bsky.social
Everyone talks about superstrength and superhearing but no one talks about his super graphic design sensibility.

#superman #graphicdesign
March 10, 2025 at 12:23 PM
botany-boy.bsky.social
There are so many writers whose work I'd enjoy if only they weren't employed as writers.

Having a weekly byline means your work is no longer essential. It exists only to exist. You deplete your finite well of transgressive ideas and begin to pad your word count.
March 4, 2025 at 2:18 PM
botany-boy.bsky.social
Besides the great Beauty & the Beast reference, I love how this implies that the one part of JD Vance with integrity was his unabashed affinity for eggs.
March 4, 2025 at 6:37 AM
botany-boy.bsky.social
Nazi Bryce Mitchell hitting "reverse" on the electric drill embedded in his testicle:
February 26, 2025 at 3:53 PM
botany-boy.bsky.social
Elon really had his baby moms lie to the NYT about the video game equivalent of being the first thimble to buy Marvin Gardens.

#elonmusk #gaming #monopoly
January 26, 2025 at 1:54 PM
botany-boy.bsky.social
Shout out to intersectional theorist Dave Barry for being my first introduction to the concept of a third gender.

#davebarry #nonbinary #davebarrysguidetoguys
January 22, 2025 at 7:08 PM