P&C drink and review Hell or High Watermelon from 21st Amendment Brewery (X: @21stAmendment), then, with special guest Longinus, discuss the cost of professional sports.
Why are we, in the words of Pigweed, willing to spend so much money to watch grown men play children’s games?
But that’s not to the point. The boys are focused on the cost of a baseball or football game. Why has it increased so much? Is it worth it?
From 1970 to the present – in today’s dollars – the cost for a family of four to attend a baseball game is about 4x. Who pays this, and why?
Along with this increase in prices, we have an increase in coverage. When Pigweed was a lad, there was one, one-hour show on sports. Now, we have several 24×7 sports stations talking about sports all year long.
There’s also the moral question. In a world that can’t decide what a woman is, sports provides some clear guidelines. The player is either in or out. The ball is in the strike zone or it’s not.
Another angle – people can’t sit quietly with their own thoughts. They need a distraction. Every bar and restaurant has constant sports.
Is sports filling a hole left by the lack of religion, or community? Also, to what extent is this a public question? Is it in the local government’s interest to get people involved in local sports?
P&C drink and review Crew Cab IPA from Big Truck brewery, then invite special guest Longinus to help them discuss a novella by Marquez. This is part of P&C’s on-going “shortcut to the classics” series.
The book is written by an old man about an old man who is reflecting on his life.
On his 90th birthday, the unnamed protagonist — who is a confirmed bachelor and frequent patron of brothels — wanted to give himself a night of wild love with an adolescent virgin. The book is about his reminiscenses, but mostly about his relationship with this one girl.
The protagonist has lived 90 years with no love in his life, but now, at the end, he falls madly in love with a very young girl, with whom he doesn’t have sex.
The book presents some deep reflections on love, sex, passion, and jealousy. In one sense, it’s a very raunchy and disturbing book, with difficult themes. In another sense, it’s an interesting commentary on love.
The main characters in “Memories of My Melancholy Whores” are:
The unnamed narrator: An aging journalist reflecting on his life and longing for connection on his 90th birthday.
Rosa Cabarcas: The owner of a brothel who arranges an encounter for the narrator.
Delgadita: A 14-year-old virgin girl offered by Rosa as part of a birthday gift to the narrator.
Florina de Dios Cargamantes: The narrator’s mother.
Damiana: The narrator’s maid.
In “Memories of My Melancholy Whores,” a nameless, aging journalist on his 90th birthday decides to treat himself to a night with a virgin. Accustomed to paying for companionship, he seeks a return to a youthful experience he never had. He contacts Rosa Cabarcas, a former madam, to arrange this encounter.
Rosa procures Delgadita, a young, impoverished girl, to fulfill the narrator’s request. However, the initial plan for a sexual encounter goes awry. Delgadita, exhausted from caring for her family, sleeps through the night heavily sedated.
Despite the lack of physical intimacy, the narrator becomes unexpectedly attached to Delgadita. He begins to care for her well-being, buying her clothes, books, and arranging for her education. They spend time together reading and talking, forming a unique and tender bond.
Through his interactions with Delgadita, the narrator reflects on his own life filled with loneliness and missed opportunities for love. He experiences a sense of renewal and awakens to a form of love he had never known.
The novel explores themes of aging, regret, the power of human connection, and the unexpected ways love can manifest. It’s important to note that the age difference between the narrator and Delgadita raises ethical questions, a point some readers find problematic.
The boys drink and review Super Thick Pastry Stout from Old Mother Brewing in Frederick, Maryland, then discuss the Big 5 personality characteristics.
There are a lot of personality tests out there, like Myers Briggs and the Enneagram. Those aren’t as solidly based in science as the Big Five.
You can remember the Big Five with with of two acrostics, OCEAN or CANOE. They are …
The Big Five personality traits, also known as the Five Factor Model (FFM), are a widely accepted framework for understanding human personality. They represent broad dimensions of individual differences in personality. Here’s a brief explanation of each:
Openness to Experience features characteristics such as imagination, insight, and a broad range of interests. Individuals high in openness are often curious about the world and other people, eager to learn new things, and open to new experiences, including unconventional ideas or novel solutions. They tend to be creative and appreciative of art and beauty.
Conscientiousness involves high levels of thoughtfulness, good impulse control, and goal-directed behaviors. Highly conscientious individuals are organized, reliable, and diligent. They plan ahead, work systematically, and carry out tasks with attention to detail. This trait is often linked with academic and career success.
Extroversion is characterized by excitability, sociability, talkativeness, assertiveness, and high amounts of emotional expressiveness. Extroverts derive energy from social interaction, are often enthusiastic and action-oriented, enjoy being around people, and are often perceived as full of life and energy.
Agreeableness includes attributes such as trust, altruism, kindness, affection, and other prosocial behaviors. Individuals who score high in agreeableness tend to be cooperative, compassionate, and friendly. They are more inclined to help others and value getting along with people.
Neuroticism is associated with emotional instability, anxiety, moodiness, irritability, and sadness. Individuals high in neuroticism may experience more frequent and severe negative emotions than their peers. They tend to respond worse to stressors, are more likely to interpret ordinary situations as threatening, and can struggle to bounce back from challenging events.
After the boys conclude their discussion of the Big Five, Pigweed relates a story from Mrs. Pigweed, who went to pronoun class. P&C review some of the material from the class and conclude it’s a huge smoking pile of nonsense.
At the end of the show, Crowhill takes a shot at reading “the worst sentence ever written” by Judith Butler.
The boys drink and review Planetary hazy IPA from the Ministry of Brewing, then discuss the decline of religion in the west.
The boys review some of the stats on the decline in church attendance, the rise of the “nones,” and how religion has less and less influence on western civilization.
But there are some important elements of society that are heavily and positively influenced by religion.
Many science-minded people think it’s good that religion is in decline. The so-called “new atheists” say we can craft a new morality based on reason. Is that really working?
This aligns with the the ideas of the enlightenment — that reason could replace religion. But does that work?
Richard Dawkins recently revealed that he was a “cultural Christian.” Is that all we have?
The P&C show has frequently discussed an evolutionary psychology explanation for religion. Societies with religion edged out those without.
There’s a quote attributed to Chesterton that says “when men cease to believe in God, they don’t believe nothing, they believe anything.”
There is a God-shaped hole in our hearts. If that hole isn’t filled with God, it will be filled with something else, like environmentalism, wokeness/activism, identity/narcissism/transgenderism.
Neitzche feared that when religion died, it would be replaced with hyper-nationalism and other ills. “I didn’t see this coming….but, I’m not surprised.”
There are lots of indications that the concept of God underwrites many of the social norms that we rely on.
There’s also the issue of archetypes and evolutionary psychology.
One argument for the existence of God is that without God everything goes to crap. Is that where we are? Is God necessary, whether he exists or not?
The boys drink and review Tmave Pivo, a Czech Dark Lager by Ten Eyck brewing.
54% of people in America think the government has too much power. Does the federal government do too much? Is it too big?
Government debt has been a problem for a while, but recently it has spiked to almost unbelievable levels. Is this a good thing? How do we stop it?
What is the federal government supposed to do, and how does that match with what the federal government actually does? There are some things the government does — and spends money on — that have no justification in the constitution.
The Ben Franklin players finish the show with a dramatic reading.
