Could Carnival over take the Mummers?

 Serious question since the Philadelphia Mummer tradition owes a lot to Carnival. Carnival being:

Carnival is a Western Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typically involves public celebrations, including events such as parades, public street parties and other entertainments, combining some elements of a circus. Elaborate costumes and masks allow people to set aside their everyday individuality and experience a heightened sense of social unity. Participants often indulge in excessive consumption of alcohol, meat, and other foods that will be forgone during upcoming Lent.

This question is something I've been asking myself for a while since I heard the Mummer's Parade in Philadelphia was having economic problems.  Carnival It's a big thing in the Caribbean and is called Mardi Gras in the US:

Carnival celebrations, usually referred to as Mardi Gras ("Fat Tuesday" in French), were first celebrated in the Gulf Coast area, but now occur in many states. Customs originated in the onetime French colonial capitals of Mobile (now in Alabama), New Orleans (Louisiana), and Biloxi (Mississippi), all of which have celebrated for many years with street parades and masked balls.

 So, the two traditions. Carnival and Mummers, have a lot in common. I found this article in Al Dia about another tradition, the San Mateo Carnavalero, linking up with the Mummers

 Up until recently the suggestion that masqueraders of "San Mateo Carnavalero" should  join the long standing and massive parade of the "Mummers" had been nothing more than our suggestion. However recently there was a real rapprochement between multiple local cultural carnivals, all of which had, until then, remained mostly disconnected.

 My opinion, here's a tradition which exists that could join up with other ethnic groups. The Al Dia Article pretty much sums up how I think the Mummers Parade should evolve to become more inclusive. The issue is whether blacks are willing to join their tradition with that from other cultures.

What you miss by being monolingual.

 The US really doesn't have much in the way of a balanced media.

So, it was really refreshing to see this interview with John McWhorter in L'Express: https://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/idees-et-debats/john-mcwhorter-avec-sa-croyance-inebranlable-et-son-peche-originel-le-wokisme-est-une-religion_2165058.html

You can find English versions, but the French one is much more cutting about this movement.

You touch on a crucial point. There is certainly a form of theatricality in the way some blacks claim a place, and that can be traced back to simplistic attitudes already in the early 1960s. But I really think that the black American leadership doesn't think about black people as elected officials: it's not part of the black tradition. I think that Black America thinks of itself through a very troubled history, still in the present, and that this idea that Black people should have a certain place is not an egocentric idea, but rather a fear. It comes from the fact that it can be difficult, as a black person, why you exist in the world. The relationship with Africa, it goes back centuries, it doesn't make sense anymore. We are not Africans. What do we have? It is very difficult to think collectively in such a situation. For me, it's very important that we understand this because indeed, this aspect of black activism can be very irritating. But it comes from a deep insecurity. 

I find it interesting that Prof. McWhorter is a professor of Creole Studies and isn't offering the Western Alternative to Africa: Creole culture. The slaves made their own traditions in the Western Hemisphere.

While the narrative is that blacks "were stolen from Africa", the reality is that they were sold into bondage by other Africans (e.g., Mali Empire and Benin). Slavery has been part of African culture from Ancient times. Blaming white people won't change that.

US black culture is also not monolithic as is seen by examples like Prof. McWhorter.

Kwanzaa, Odunde, and what's that other one. Oh, yeah, Juneteenth: Reprise

 I'm sure that people are saying I am a racist because of these posts since they go against what we are told about how race relations SHOULD be in the US.

On the other hand, remember I am a francophone, which has been officially certified by the French government.

I wonder how many of the people calling me a racist listen to Radio France International (RFI)? They might want to since RFI broadcasts in one of the two most commonly spoken languages in Africa: FRENCH! 

TO AFRICA

And the other one is English.

As I said in the previous post:

The ethnic groups of Africa number in the thousands, with each population generally having its own language (or dialect of a language) and culture. The ethnolinguistic groups include various Afroasiatic, Khoisan, Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan populations.

So, having a common language is very helpful, even if those langauges happen to be the "imperialistic" ones, Arabic, Portugese, French, or English.

But another thing which is missing (or things that are missing) when I listen to news by and about Africans? Kwanzaa, Odunde, and what's that other one. Oh, yeah, Juneteenth...

There's a bit of local difficulty and the powers that be toss blacks a bone.

Unfortunately, like the ethnic groups in Africa, US blacks are not a monolithic identity.

I wonder how long it will take for the blacks to realise that maybe the people making the ctiticism might be their best friends. Although, they are probably smart enough to realise they are being pandered to.

Ann Coulter on Kwanzaa

This "holiday" would probably have blown by me except one e-mail  came with "What Kwanzaa Means to Black Americans—Now & Always" in its contents. I said "Kwanzaa has been built up, but I have yet to meet someone who seriously celebrates it other than my ultra liberal Jewish cousin. Get me somebody who is black who celebrates it! I don't know about "African-Americans", but this set of holidays leaves me dry." in a previous post on the topic.

On the other hand, the one e-mail did make me curious as to if this was a popular holiday.

Or just something being foisted on people as a distraction? (annoyance?)

I think I found one authentic site about a couple of black people in the Lehigh Valley trying to promote the "holiday". The rest were from MSM and business pushing it.

On the right, it was pretty much what Ann Coulter says:

Kwanzaa was the result of a ’60s psychosis grafted onto the black community. Liberals have become so mesmerized by multicultural gibberish that they have forgotten the real history of Kwanzaa and Karenga’s United Slaves — the violence, the Marxism, the insanity.

I don't think the issue is that people have forgotten anything, the whole story has never been discussed. It's like "Black Lives Matter", which started out as a good thing countering the "stand your groud laws". Now, its become a meaingless slogan to get people to work against their interests.

How can you have a world's series with only one or two countries participating?

There is a plaque commemorating the US High Speed Rail pioneers at Princeton Junction, one of them was my step-father. The US could have rail service like this if the government was willing to foot the bill. But these quotes pretty much sum up why France can leave the US in the dust sitting in a traffic jam.

Rail subsidies are largest in China ($130 billion) and Europe (€73 billion), while the United States has relatively small subsidies for passenger rail with freight not subsidized.

This film is in French, but you can get the point of WHY rail is important, yet the US is ignoring it.

 Cross-subsidies between lines go a long way towards explaining the development of the high-speed rail system in France. Thanks to those subsidies, it has been possible to develop a TGV service even in towns that are located far from LGV lines. TGVs also can run on conventional lines provided the lines are electrified.

 So, the US COULD easily develop high speed rail capable of speed in excess of 357 mph (or 574.8KmPH. TGV holds that record).

The sad thing is that the people chanting Make America Great Again are against a Green New Deal, which should have rebuilding rail infrastructure as an integral aspect.

Sadly, the clip is in French, because a lot of people in the US need to see it.

Move on--Nothing to be seen here...

Nothing like watching Fox News and being told about some péché mortale done by the "Democratic" party. Or the reverse on MSNBC, that is the "Republican" party is bad. Problem is that BOTH parties are pretty much the same thing, which is why they need those "Hot button", "culture wars" issues to differentiate themselves the same way Pepsi does from Coke.

Bad news: it's the big donors who call the shots otherwise Bernie Sanders would be well into his Second Term by now (there's a post simmering on why Sanders would have been more popular than most people think, but the short form is that he represents what was historically a red state and was popular with a focus group of Fox News viewers!).

Big money needs to be removed from US politics as one of the top reforms. Although that gives Tucker Carlson something to act surprised about when a Google consultant works to install an FTC head.

Anyway, the elections are not free and fair on a secret ballot by any stretch of the imagination in the US.

The US needs to start practising what it spend a good portion of the 20th Century telling other countries to do while pretending they were pratising what they were preaching. Here's this from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948).

Article 21

1. Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
2. Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.
3. The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

See also:

• David Sirota and Andrew Perez: Unchecked Corporate Power Is at the Root of America’s Democracy Crisis

This is pretty good too:

Not sure why I am thinking about firearms proof marks

 British and European firearms have been subjected to something called proof testing to ensure they won't blow up on the user from the end of the 15th century. From the Firearms History, Technology and Development blog:

The first type of testing we will study is the Proof Test. The idea behind such a test is to verify the strength of the barrel, breech and firing system of a firearm by deliberately firing an over-pressured cartridge. After this, the firearm is examined to make sure it is still intact and if so, the metal (usually the barrel) is stamped with one or more "proof marks" of the testing agency. The proof marks create indented impressions on the metal surface, so they cannot be accidentally removed. Such a test certifies that the firearm is free from manufacturing defects and will not explode under normal usage conditions. In many countries, proof tests are compulsory; and it is not possible to sell a firearm unless it has been proof-tested by an official testing agency approved by the government.

Some manufacturers in the town of St. Etienne in France started conducting proof tests around the 15th century, when firearms manufacturing started in that area. However, France didn't enact a law to make the test mandatory until the 1900s and hence, it was left to each French manufacturer to decide what the test standards should be or even whether to perform a test or not. In other areas, such as London and Birmingham in England and Liege in Belgium, even before testing became compulsory, most manufacturers used to do private tests in their own factories or in a trade testing house.

Compulsory testing laws were passed in most countries mainly due to the backing of the gunmaker guilds of those countries. By enacting such laws, the guilds sought to prevent the manufacture of firearms and stifle competition from non-guild members, even though they claimed that such laws were designed to protect members of the public. The first such compulsory law was passed due to the lobbying efforts of the London Gunmakers Company (a guild composed of firearm manufacturers around London). The initial bylaws passed by the London Gunmakers Company charter of 1637 marked the first introduction of proof tests in England, but didn't specify an official standard of testing.

https://firearmshistory.blogspot.com/2011/01/testing-firearms-proof-test.html

Proof tests were instrumental in protecting the end-user from weapon failures and compulsory enforcement of these laws helped reduce firearm-related accidents around the world. This is why they are still mandatory in many countries.

 

I remember discussing this matter with my Torts teacher in law school and he mentioned something about product liability, which has been something I filed away in my brain. I associated these tests primarily with British firearms, but they seem to be much more common. The point is that firearms have an inherent lethality which adds to their attractiveness. They cause serious injury or death when used properly.

On the other hand, it is their lethality and dangerous nature which leads to their being regulated in pretty much all civilised nations. And having been regulated for a very long time.

Kwanzaa, Odunde, and what's that other one. Oh, yeah, Juneteenth

The problem with people who have slave ancestors is that they have no real idea of where they came from short of getting their DNA sequenced: and I'm sure the results would be shocking. That's because the places the slave ships originated were ports where the slaves were brought from the interior for trans-shipment. I'm a Euro-Mutt according to my DNA so pretty much everywhere in Europe, except the Iberian peninsula can be considered my "roots".  In fact, I can't really name a country for a good part of my continental ancestors: only my maternal grandmother's ancestors came from countries (France and Germany). The maternal grandfather were from before the US became independent, so it would be something like Holy Roman Empire or Hanseatic League for the ones who weren't British.

Now, the problem with Africa is that there are lots of different cultures and most blacks who came as slaves came from the West of Africa. So, what to do: create a holiday based on what you believe might be your traditions.

Kwanzaa comes from Swahili, which is an East African language. Swahili is a combination of Bantu, Arabic, and Portugese. These people are too infatuated with Julius Nyerere to realise that Swahili is pretty much a creation of the Arabic Slave trade...

Odunde is probably the better choice if you gotta choose since it is based upon the Yoruba traditions. [1] Yorubas may be one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa, but.

The ethnic groups of Africa number in the thousands, with each population generally having its own language (or dialect of a language) and culture. The ethnolinguistic groups include various Afroasiatic, Khoisan, Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan populations.

That's about like me saying I feel most European when I identify as Kosovan (not to denigrate Kosovars, but that was what came to mind. And I don't particularly feel Kosovan. For that matter, I don't feel particularly German or Eastern European either). I'm a Euro-mutt, but some traditions I have a connection to leave me cold, but since I'm pretty much everything from East of the Iberian Peninsula to West of sort of a line through the Scandanavia, Baltic States, and Poland down to Turkey: I've got a lot of Latitude.,..

But when you don't feel a heritage: go for it.

Then comes JUNETEENTH which is pretty much an obscure event that received a huge build up in 2020 to become forgotten again. While having to do with former American Slaves, it would probably be a good candidate for a holiday. The unfortunate thing is that it only deals with a small population of slaves in Galveston, TX who were told not only had the Civil War ended, but they had supposedly been free for a few years. But celebrating like is like celebrating the end of World War II on the date the Last Japanese soldier holing up waiting for the glorious troops to return makes contact with the rest of the world..

Then again, the US does have this habit of making events that happened after the war ended into a big thing, such as the Battle of New Orleans.

The big issue here is that these events are small things even though there is a rich set of traditions for whatever you want to call this heritage.[2] Kwanzaa has been built up, but I have yet to meet someone who seriously celebrates it other than my ultra liberal Jewish cousin. Get me somebody who is black who celebrates it! I don't know about "African-Americans", but this set of holidays leaves me dry.

I'm pretty sure there must be something out there that could form a holiday and unify black people, but these three aren't great candidates. The problem is that like Europeans, Africans are pretty diverse. Actually, they've got us European beat by a lot in the ethnic diversity department. It's just that the colonisers changed the map to make the nations that now make up Africa. It's like me trying to classify my ancestors who came from what is now a diverse set of European countries.[3]

Footnotes:

[1] Toss in we have moved from East Coast Slave Trade to West Coast Slave Trade.

[2] There is a lot of European in the former slave population gene pool, plus not all people of African descent have slave heritage, and so on.

[3] It's slightly easier for me to choose ethnicity since there are a few "centres of gravity", although at least one of them (Rhineland) has been up for grabs for ages. But even British is up for grabs with not only English, but Welsh, Scots, and Cornish...And that's just a start.

It takes two parties to Gerrymander

I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that Le Monde would blame the Republicans for the problems in US politics, while not criticising Joe Biden (Le sommet pour la démocratie de Joe Biden a déçu). In fact, France has a lot of nerve pointing fingers at the US since both countries have similar problems in their political systems. The problem is that the US's duopoly system is a lot better at hiding the differences by using "hot-button", "Culture wars" issues which are fairly meaningless.

The nice thing is that people in the US are so heavily propagandised and insular that they don't know the difference. Although, one clue is that propaganda is visceral--it works to stir the emotions and short circuit logic. The US is good at propaganda since it has the advertising industry.

Unfortunately, a victim of the mindless, "hot-button" politics is any sense of political compromise as the situation becomes "US" versus "THEM". Bernie Sanders is frightening since Fox News listeners hear him in person and LIKE his policies. Greg Gutfeld lost any cred with me when he went on an ad hominem attack on Sanders.

Sorry, Greg, that shit is the sign of a loser.

Other victims are the media and information in general. I mentioned I was listening to Fox News, in particular Tucker Carlson, but that was because there is no dissent in the other levels of the US media. That's because the media are pretty much monopolised and can control the message worse than any governmental agency.

The problem with US politics is not the Democrats or the Republicans: it's the duopoly system which refuses to let any other party make any progress.

See also:

How the US Propaganda System Works