By Jay Fitzgerald – A blog about Boston, Hub of the Universe, and everything else.
“And there is one sure thing about the fall of gods: they do not fall a little; they crash and shatter or sink deeply into green muck. It is a tedious job to build them up again; they never quite shine. And the child’s world in never quite whole again. It is an aching kind of growing.” — John Steinbeck
I’m referring, of course, to them.
Just like that. The BBJ has the scoop on the quick collapse of Burns & Levinson. … There’s a great story waiting to be written here. How did it happen? Why the sudden exodus of attorneys? A changing legal landscape is not a good enough explanation. In the end, there seemed to be an element of hysteria/panic at play, in addition to market and management issues.
Here’s a prediction: polyamorous relationships will eventually become a major culture-war issue, an issue that Republicans will inevitably demagogue to the max and that Democrats will inevitably get hammered on if they don’t disassociate from aspects of it tout suite.
I base this on an op-ed in the Globe the other day (“Polyamorous relationships are a good thing”) by Alexander Chen, founding director of Harvard Law School’s LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic, and Christina Mulligan, a professor of law at Brooklyn Law School. Despite what some have argued in the past, polyamorous relationships do include polygamy and its offshoot, polygyny (i.e. a male with multiple female wives/mates), as the authors note both in the op-ed and in the academic paper they link to in the piece. But they dismiss concerns and fears about polygamy and polygyny, saying evidence “indicates” that polyamory “will not lead to widespread polygamy.”
In other words: there will be some polygamy, just not a lot.
As mentioned, polyamorous relationships, and polygamy, will eventually become a major culture-war issue. It sure looks like the authors themselves are expecting it.
Update – From a reader:
“When I read the Globe column you cited today in Hubblog I had 2 thoughts:
“1- we’ll look back on this in several years as the official start of a new social movement, despite the understated tone.
“2- somewhat surprised there hasn’t been more call for acceptance of polyamory before. There was a cable docuseries on Showtime covering polyamorous relationships over a decade ago. While non-traditional, it’s not as extreme and irreversible as transgender treatments. If there is a Harris Administration, I suspect the quiet progress will continue.”
There are few things as intellectually satisfying as discovering you’ve long been wrong about an issue or person. It can be a pleasant, eye-opening, refreshing experience, one that makes you want to explore and learn more. Anyway, something akin to this recently happened to Michael Dukakis after he began studying the life and accomplishments of Calvin Coolidge, the former president and fellow former governor of Massachusetts. The Globe’s Jeff Jacoby has the details.
Btw: Jeff lists public figures who he formerly only criticized but has since learned to respect for their positive qualities – such as George McGovern, Hubert Humphrey and Jimmy Carter. … I might come up with my own list, but I need to give it some more thought. Off hand, I’ve recently learned to respect the positive qualities of George W. Bush and Mitt Romney, among others. As far as distant historic figures go, I can still recall my pleasant surprise at learning the truly great personal and military qualities of Ulysses S. Grant, who I formerly viewed in a highly negative way.
Kairos Shen is returning to his old job as head of the city’s development agency – and Scott Van Voorhis is right there to welcome him. With a blowtorch. … Setting aside Shen’s obnoxious pension grab when he last left City Hall, I wasn’t a big fan of his previous “modern materials” mandate for new buildings in Boston. I’m not one of those traditionalists who want red bricks, bricks, bricks all the time. But I also don’t want glass, glass, glass all the time either.
This season may be the last and only chance for the current Celts to win banner 19 and establish a mini-dynasty as their legacy. The reason: the pending sale of the team and the crushing “luxury tax” that the Celts are now paying – an NBA tax a new owner is highly unlikely to tolerate, according to the Globe’s Christopher Gasper. … And, of course, Gasper’s right. A break-up of the current team is highly likely after this coming season.
As a friend wrote of Daddy Grousbeck: “It’s hard to fault Irv for looking to sell at a market top.”
Just what the supply-chain and economy need: a dockworkers strike up and down the East Coast, potentially starting next week. The port workers are represented by the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA).
The media is all over the latest controversy at State Police. Attorney General Andrea Campbell has appointed an outside attorney to lead an independent probe into Enrique Delgado-Garcia’s death following a boxing exercise at the State Police academy. … Then there’s this Globe editorial and a separate Joan Vennochi column on the training-exercise controversy. … It’s good to see people making the connection between historically harsh State Police training and the long-known “culture problem” in general at State Police.
Btw: I can’t get out of my mind this quote (scroll down) from a retired State Police trooper who recently defended the harsh training by academy instructors: “They were in your face yelling at you — but so are the people on the side of the road.” … People on the side of the road? Is he talking about motorists?
Here’s yet more on the macho-training exercises at Tufts. … Nine healthy college lacrosse players hospitalized after a training session led by a former Navy SEAL trainee. Dumber than dumb. … As I mentioned the other day (see “More over-the-top training exercises” below), there’s an element of sadism at work in these ridiculously harsh training exercises, both at Tufts and State Police.
It seems election season truly brings out the tribalism in people, as far as their preferred news sources go, according to new study co-authored by an MIT professor. … I happen to think political confirmation bias runs strong 24/7/365, year after year, decade after decade. Just watch MSNBC or Fox News . Their entire business models are based on confirmation-bias viewing.
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