Hot
Threads
For obvious reasons,
"The International Scene" was the hottest thread in "The Fray" this
week. The Indian nuclear detonations on the effectiveness of U.S. sanctions.
The Indonesian crisis figured prominently all week, with a Jakarta-based
fraygrant filing regular . By week's end, the focus had shifted to the IMF's
role in the unrest: Does the fund and its "economic groupies have something big
to answer for"? Or, as one longtime Asia hand maintains, is "the cause of the
present problem in Indonesia not the International Monetary Fund or the
cupidity of foreign corporations but Suharto, the living incarnation of Asian
Family Values"?
Hillary Clinton's statements
on the Palestinian situation also sparked discussion: She "never, ever had any
business making policy statements, let alone take part in policy-making" vs.
"She certainly has a right to speak without being accused of wearing the pants
in the presidency."
A clear
signal that the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal is atrophying: The "Clinton and
the Media" and "Politics
'98" threads all but mirrored each other this week. Politics '98 featured
Internal Revenue Service and tax reform, missile-guidance systems, school
vouchers, and inherited wealth. The Clinton thread, meanwhile, began to feature
IRS and tax reform and missile-guidance systems. Noting the similarities, one
astute fraygrant suggested restricting more civilized, high-minded debate to
"Politics" and reserving "Clinton" for equally important venal, mean-spirited
exchanges.
New
Threads
Did you know that the average
sexual encounter for a bonobo a) occurs with a member of the same sex and b)
lasts a mere 13 seconds? This is just one of many interesting facts that
surfaced in the new "Gay
Life" thread, which has discussed everything from genetics to friendships
to prejudice. Is homophobia innate or a repressive cultural construct? Should
gays be accorded equal rights by law in all respects, including social
practices such as marriage? (According to one participant,"All biological,
sociobiological and historical realities are irrelevant to gay rights.") Should
the sexual orientation of Allan Bloom, Stanley Kauffmann, or Proust be factored
into of their writing? Is it reasonable to assume a person is straight until
proven otherwise? Are ménages à trois relatively rare?
David
Greenberg's "Of
Conspiracies and King" in
Slate
inspired a new "Conspiracies" thread, with testimonials from "basement wackos"
interested in the connections between Strom Thurmond and Scientology and even
the nebulous "America Mystica." Participants have kept things real thus far,
questioning why secret societies remain secret, what constitutes conspiratorial
thought, and what differentiates the aforementioned wackos from legitimate
psychodrama connoisseurs.
Art
Smart
Slate
's review of the Mark Rothko exhibit at the National Gallery of Art
raised questions on Abstract Expressionism and nonrepresentational art in
general in the "Arts" thread. about art and art history to be able to
appreciate a painter like Rothko? Some fraygrants find his colorfield paintings
peaceful, others find them oppressive. One fraygrant commented on the nature of
art criticism, saying, "I'm not saying that non-representational painting is
bad; just that there is more bullshit attached to such paintings than others."
Mondrian's later offerings came in for a drubbing, though his early
representational work appears popular.
