Rebellion Versus Riot

 Elizabeth Hinton (who was on BBC news yesterday) argues for "rebellions" instead of "riots" to describe the events in the inner cities in the mid to late 1960's. Having lived during that period, although I haven't read her book, I think she's wrong.

To me "rebellion" means a degree of central planning and organization, elements which I think were shared through many of the slave "revolts" discussed here. A "riot" usually has an instigating event, a central focus which draws in participants, but there's no central figure like Nat Turner or John Brown. 

Hinton has a point that the events from 1964 through 1968 have a continuity and similarity which makes "riots" seem an inadequate terminology.

Second Thoughts on Inflation

 I blogged previously worrying about the impact of inflation, if it occurs, on people on fixed incomes.

I've a second thought--it may be true that since the inflation of the 1970s that use of inflation-indexing has increased.  IIRC it once was true that Congress would pass legislation increasing social security payments (also reducing income tax rates) to compensate for inflation. These days both are indexed, so the impact on the elderly may be less.

On Homicide

Megan McArdle has a twitter thread going on the rise in homicide rates. (Kevin Drum has pointed out that while homicides have risen, violent crime hasn't.   

I'm going to write a longer column on this but I think that the people reassuring each other that the urban crime spike is only homicide, while other violent crime fell last year, should not assume that those trends will keep diverging.

— Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) May 25, 2021

I offered two comments in twitter, neither totally serious.  One was recalling a past discussion on the impact of medical advances on homicide rates--ER's might save more victims.  The other was suggesting that criminal gangs were losing revenue from the effects of the lockdown and the legalization of pot, so they might be fighting over a shrinking pie.

I'm wondering how the trends will evolve.  

On Reading But Not Understanding

 Bob Somerby today has a post about Godel and Wittgenstein. It seems he got deeply into philosophy in his college days, and he often refers to them, as well as others (like Bertrand Russell just last week).  Douglas Hofstadter wrote a famous book in 1979 on Godel, Escher and Bach.  I was one of those who bought the book but never finished it.

I'm someone whose identity is tied up in their mind--i.e, all my life (almost) I've been "smart", so I don't like to admit there's stuff I can't understand. Bob is a mix of the esoteric, the cranky, and the right-on, whom I find mostly worthwhile to read, but I do skip paragraphs and occasional posts. 

Inflation Worries

 Seeing media stories about the possibility of inflation.  Apparently the Biden administration is not worrying, nor is the Fed.  

I understand the logic--prices may rise for food and gas, but the underlying trend may not be above the Fed's target for long. And the rise in wages for restaurant and food service workers is good; it helps the lowest paid. 

But my cynicism is up today.  I'm worried about people on fixed incomes--the retired--will be disproportionately affected by the inflation that occurs. And worried that people vote more on the basis of what they've lost than what they have gained, meaning Democrats in 2022 will lose more elderly votes than they gain from the wage gainers.

Hidden Factors in Economic History

 I'm intrigued by the idea that some hidden factors account for economic gains:

• The invention of eyeglasses. That must have significantly improved the capabilities of a segment of the population 
• The change from women as housewives to women as teachers to women as professionals.  Those changes raised the average intelligence of the (paid) workface, while lowering the average for the teaching profession.
• The opening of "virgin land"--meaning the exploitation of fertility accumulated over years
• The invention of the container ship.  (Good book on that.)

[Updated 1: The invention of writing of course was important, as were the inventions of libraries, and public libraries, and lenses which were prerequisite for glasses and then Ben Franklin's bifocals.

Updated 2:  The adoption of uniform time zones in the 1880s]

 

First Post-Pandemic Joint Outing

 Wife and I drove to Purcellville today. First time we've ventured out together on a trip for pleasure, even if it was only a brief one.

Words--"Profession"

 One thing I got from my reading of "The Light Ages" is the etymology of "profession".   The source at the link doesn't say, but I'm guessing that the progression was from a "profession of faith", meaning a solemn vow of belief, which would have been required of Catholics, particularly those entering monasteries and becoming monks.  Given the evolution of universities from monastic and church schools where it seems that monks, or aspirants, were the dominant (only?) students and then teachers, the term becomes applied to the legal, medical, and theological professions.

How Things Change--Vaccine

 Early in the year we were amazed that West Virginia was leading the way in vaccinating their people.  My cousin in Massachusetts was griping about the way the governor was mishandling vaccination there.

Today it seems that West Virginia has fallen back, almost into the lowest tier of states, while Massachusetts is in the top tier. 

A Use of CRA

 Dems use the CRA on civil rights. Why use it on this, and not other regulations? The article explains why the EEOC is different.