Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)

Walt Whitman — Bitter Crank

Nothing against you, but...

I always felt Whitman's flippant quip was a rather heinous justification for harboring a hive of messy, contradictory thoughts and positions: Very well then; I am large.

Better to be medium-sized and self-consistent. Unless you have a knack for coping with cognitive dissonance and see no issue in irritating everyone you talk to.

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Next in line is Marilyn Manson and one of his girlfriends. I read the article she wrote and I believed her, so we'll see if she also loses a defamation case. Manson isn't as well loved as Depp, so it will make a good comparison.

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and wouldn't know what on earth to make of Marylin Manson anyway! — karl stone

The two stories are very similar, though. Is it that your war against PC ends when Marilyn Manson is the poster boy? :lol:

I haven't studied Whitman as much as I should have; was he full of highly inconsistent ideas?

Whitman was, as far as I know, a working class 19th century gay man. He did not have much education but he must have been paying attention while he was there; he attended public school in Brooklyn, NY until around 1828 +/-, and began working for a printer at the age of 12. He worked as a printer, a rural school teacher, a journalist, an editor, a clerk, a nurse in the Civil War, and a poet. "Poet" was probably not his day job. He also drove street cars (pulled by horses). So he mercifully didn't attend college, major in philosophy, and develop a streamlined personality and thought system.

He is considered one of Americas most important poets of the time, along with Emily Dickinson. High raise which he did not receive in his lifetime. His forms and subject matter 'unnerved' many people; he wrote about the body, and the manly love of comrade --which he celebrated and promoted, among other things,

You might want to read When Lilacs Last in the Door Yard Bloom'd, a poem he wrote in response to Lincoln's assassination.

You might want to read When Lilacs Last in the Door Yard Bloom'd, a poem he wrote in response to Lincoln's assassination. — Bitter Crank

Amazing poem.

I haven't studied Whitman as much as I should have; was he full of highly inconsistent ideas? — Bitter Crank

I've read quite a bit of Whitman but never studied him per se. Incredible poet. Just never cared for the quip above.

You might want to read When Lilacs Last in the Door Yard Bloom'd, a poem he wrote in response to Lincoln's assassination. — Bitter Crank

I've read quite a bit of Whitman but never studied him per se. Incredible poet. Just never cared for the quip above. — ZzzoneiroCosm

I've read very little Whitman. I should read some more. I like the way his voice balances between prose and poetry. How his language is down to earth but also heightened.

Brilliant innovator. Lilacs is a good way to catch up with him again. Im comfortable calling it breathtaking....in places

I identify with WW quip which you find heinous. There comes a time when one just has to accept that one isn't entirely consistent, and there's not much to be done about it--hence, "Very well then I contradict myself".

Whitman probably felt "full" -- not full of himself, but full of life, of people. Multitudes.

A very insightful assessment.

Oh, oh: we're off script.

I identify with WW quip which you find heinous. There comes a time when one just has to accept that one isn't entirely consistent, and there's not much to be done about it--hence, "Very well then I contradict myself". — Bitter Crank

Sure. But to call that being large - that's a bridge too far for me. Whitmans teaching here is unsound, unwise. My view.

Whitman probably felt "full" -- not full of himself, but full of life, of people. Multitudes. — Bitter Crank

Absolutely that. Full of inspiration.

Oh, oh: we're off script. — Bitter Crank

Thank god.

I don't think it apt to link self-contradiction and inspiration. Something not right there.

But all of us, I think, should envy Whitman's rubust tenacious inspiration.

O sane and sacred death.

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I'm just not interested in Marilyn Manson. He seems to me the epitome of post-modern relativism; which is the necessary philosophical bridge to political correctness. He's the poster boy for what I'm against. — karl stone

Artistically he is kind of postmodern. I think you're probably just a little afraid of him.

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Johnny Depp Is Being Blackmailed by Amber Heard – Here’s How I Know (Guest Column)
Actor’s friend, comic Doug Stanhope, says that Heard was ”threatening to lie about him publicly in any and every possible duplicitous way if he didn’t agree to her terms“

DOUG STANHOPE Guest Writer | May 29, 2016 3:41 PM — karl stone

The Wrap? Nice source.

Only proves Baden's point, trusting a source like that.

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From your source:

(Update: Amber Heard’s attorney says the claim that Heard is blackmailing Johnny Depp is “unequivocally false.”)

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Got it. You trust a story published in The Wrap.

Nothing ulterior to see here.

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I get the feeling you think the Depp-Heard case is a wholesale repudiation of the Metoo movement.

To me it's obvious that it isn't. Do we live in a perfect world since the Metoo movement started? No. Are things different since that year? For a lot of people, yes, and for the better.