Some thoughts about the unpleasantness in the current campaign

On the loss of truth

I feel the Internet has had something to do with this. It's so easy for the widest rumors to gain an international audience here. It's hard to know what is true. Traditional newspapers have systems for checking the reliability of sources, while internet websites often don't. Yet it is still possible for an internet website to discount the New York Times or the Washington Post as "liberal" and people believe it. After a while, nothing seems to be true or reliable. Even "Snopes" and Politifact have been tarred as "liberal." There has to be a mechanism for verifying truth. Yet there is none.

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On the alleged unlikability of Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren

For many years, in order for women to succeed in traditional men's jobs they have had to pose as junior men: wear male looking suits, speak in a lower voice, never cry (men's eyes have larger tear ducts, so it's harder for years to escape) Ultimately, though, all this stuff looks fake. The question is whether women can succeed while maintaining female culture and femininity.

I've been working in acting recently. In this field, the word "actress" has become unpopular, because it's viewed as sexist, as saying that women aren't as good; but, to me, having lived in France, where all nouns and adjectives have gender, it seems like the ultimate sexism to say that the female form of a word is unacceptable.

I have come to believe that France is the least sexist country in the world. They have a saying "vive la différence"-- long live the difference.

Is it possible for a woman to drop this defensive shell, be feminine, and succeed? Or do women have to be junior men to succeed? Or, alternatively, can women who have never acted this way succeed?