By their fruits shall ye know them - or little things mean a lot

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Rather than attempting to explain what I mean, which, given the incomprehension with which my recent film review was greeted, is probably not a bad thing, I’ll just give an example.

Whenever a writer in the social sciences cites Madness and Civilisation by Michel Foucault, the french post-philosopher with a fondness for the Bay Area, I know that they’re a good egg. They pass muster.

But when a writer cites other works by Foucault and not M&C, then this shows me that they are untrustworthy poseurs and sentimentalising phonies. It’s that simple, and totally foolproof. I don’t even have to waste time reading their pretentious ramblings. A quick flick through the ‘F’ section of the Index will suffice.

So what are your little things that mean so much?

2

Someone claims that they came to be atheist due to their own personal experiences. Good, probably.

Someone claims to have become an atheist because they read something by Ann Rand. Bad.

3

Ann Rand, the lesser-known sister of Ayn.

I have my Hudson Hawk litmus test for sense of humor - if you like Hudson Hawk, you have a good sense of humor. If not - you lack key humor components.

4

I have an awesome sociology prof this semester, but I haven’t thought of her in the same way since she mentioned that War Games was her favorite movie.