A post titled Lightworker? from 2008 featuring words from a column written by journalist Mark Morford on the topic of Barack Obama's (ahem) "light", was the first road sign. I've included a link to the article itself because that in my old post is no longer live. After I'd stopped laughing, I quickly checked to find a more recent column of Mark Morford's on President Obama and found one, Obama and the harsh reality check . After the first few paragraphs of that piece which I think must be from late last year, Mr Morford gets down to the nitty gritty and blows clean away any of that "light" nonsense of 2008.
The road forked from there, to various commentary about Mark Morford's journalistic style and comparison with that of another columnist, Jon Carroll.
Onward....I found a few of Jon Carroll's columns at SF Gate, read and enjoyed several; wished I could find birth dates for both Morford and Carroll to compare them - I couldn't. One of Jon Carroll's columns had inspired an idea for a blog post though. The Mystery of Jewdar.
In that column the author first discusses "gaydar", said to be an intuitive sense of whether a person is gay. He then moves on to "Jewdar", which I'd never heard of, but would be an intuitive sense to indicate a person exuding Jewishness. I'm not clear what benefit being in possession of either sensibility would be, though as Carroll wrote, in Germany and parts of Europe in the 1930s/40s being in possession of acute "Jewdar" would have been valuable in deciding who one's friends were.Whether those two "-dars" are sensed via visible signs and signals, or in accordance with that old adage: "it takes one to know one", or perhaps from both combined, or from some real, but as yet unidentified, human radar-like sense I shall not guess, nor shall I delve further into either sensitive topic. I will invent a new "-dar".
In fact, there's scope for 12 new "-dars" for those among us who claim to be able to sense a person's astrological type. I do not, emphasise NOT, mean their Sun sign. Astrological type could be a Sun sign, but could equally be Moon sign or ascendant sign, or could emanate from a heavy cluster of planets in one sign. It'd be, for instance, a feeling of...."He/She seems very Taurean", or "I'd bet he has a lot of Gemini in his chart, or that was a Scorpio-type if ever I met one!"
What'll we call these "dars"? Aridar, Taurdar, Gemdar, Candar, Leodar, Virdar, Libradar, Scordar, Sagdar, Capridar, Aquadar, Pidar ?
Is this a reasonable proposition? Any ideas?
Gaydar and Jewdar may be more straightforward than astrodar, but I concede that gay and Jewish traits can easily be missed, stereotyped, or exaggerated toward misleading conclusions, for and against proper selection. I've met some hetero people that probably should acquaint themselves with their gay side...LOL.
ReplyDeleteWay back when I was in college, a professor that coincidentally was a Catholic nun, challenged me to pick her Sun sign. I figured she was one of the three Earth signs, so I started with Taurus, then Virgo...bingo. BUT, as I didn't get it right on the first shot, she completely discounted my effort and quickly relegated astrology to the poop heap...good thing she didn't have a ruler in her hands.
I have a friend that looks and acts very Scorpio, but is Capricorn Sun, Aquarius rising, Gemini Moon...has Scorpio midheaven with Neptune right on the MC...also has Pluto in 8th house Virgo. Once I saw his chart, I could understand the Scorpio, but playing with variables to derive what I perceive can be fooldar.
mike ~ Ah yes - the gay or Jewish stereotypical traits could be misleading if the -dar is working via outside signs and signals, but if it's via some internal radar, maybe slip-ups would be less likely - if such a radar-like sense actually exists, that is.
ReplyDeleteYup - we all need to embrace our other sides.
Oh! Wasn't your teaching nun just typical of astro-skeptics?
The fact that she asked you to guess at all was quite surprising though.
Astro-dars are going to have to rely on some inner radar I think. As you say, variables are so many and complex.
I think it's more reliable to "feel" or sense the most prominent element involved rather than the exact sign - as happened in your experience with the nun/teacher.
So many people have the Sun sign thing engraved on their astro- consciousness, it's as though nothing else matters - and not only nun/teachers and those who know nothing about astrology.
Fooldar - that's a good one for us all! :-)
One must be careful with the dars:
ReplyDelete"Rapper Macklemore posted an apology on his website late Monday, saying he didn’t mean to mock Jewish people by wearing a costume that some say was anti-Semitic during a performance in Seattle last week.
Macklemore wrote that he randomly chose the pieces of the costume he wore at Friday’s performance so that he could disguise himself and move freely around during the secret show. He said it wasn’t meant to be a caricature of a Jewish man.
... Photos from the concert show Macklemore wearing a black wig and beard and a fake hooked nose. Macklemore and Lewis gained widespread fame with a message supporting diversity, and their hit song “Same Love” calls for tolerance and support for members of the gay community."
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140520/ENT09/305200044/-1/rss12
mike (again) ~ I suppose that was an unintentional faux-pas on Macklemore's part, so could hardly be seen as being truly anti-Semitic. Only he knows for sure though.
ReplyDeleteYes, we have to be careful, even when our words and actions are with good intention, someone will find a reason to be offended. In some ways it's a pity because certain subjects are seldom aired, and some of them need to be aired more often.
We watched a movie on TCM this week: "Gentleman's Agreement" with Gregory Peck, Dorothy Maguire and Celeste Holm. Dated, stilted and rather odd I felt. It was about a reporter who pretended to be Jewish for a month to cover a story on anti-Semitism, and personally discovered the true depths of bigotry and hatred that then existed (1947).
I couldn't believe that so soon after WW2 in the USA, after a good proportion of its young men and women had just battled Nazi Germany , had seen the horrendous outcome of bigotry and hatred as concentration camps were liberated, - how any kind of ill feeling against Jewish people could possibly exist. Seemingly it did.