His Momma named him Clay, I'm gonna call him Clay.

Starting with this thread, where Hans Fiene is making an argument against the coercive, totalitarian and deviant-from-norms behavior of social media companies. Among his points is that Twitter is claiming to apply a standard set of rules and yet the rules are arbitrarily applied, they are philosophically incoherent, and they are deviant from American norms. Fair enough - there is sufficient truth in there for a good argument.

What is notable is that the thread discourse is reasonably sincere and informed. Good stuff. Here is the opening shot.

A little rant about this: https://t.co/UtkU0ip7CN

— Hans Fiene (@HansFiene) November 26, 2018

There is a sub-discussion about the nature of respect, whether it can be imposed or has to be earned, what is the role of a third-party in policing free debate, the naming of things, and especially whether a third-party has the duty to force all parties in the conversation to accept each other's predicate belief systems. Example: If you are physiologically a male but insist you are a woman, does Twitter have a duty to force all others to accept your predicate assumption which is at variance with their own predicates?

Worthwhile things to consider. But what I especially enjoyed was someone's incorporation of the barbershop scene from Coming to America, the 1988 comedy movie starring Eddie Murphy. The movie had its critics but it did exceptionally well in the box office.

One recurrent motif was scenes in the neighborhood barbershop with a cast of recognizable characters from neighborhoods across America. Old friends who abuse one another, have recurrent conversations where nothing new is said but is often said differently, and where underlying good humor and respect provide a stable foundation. One device was the fact that Eddie Murry played three of the roles in the scenes - Clarence the barber, Saul the resident patron, and, of course, Murphy's lead character, Akeem Joffer.

The scene is pertinent to the twitter thread because it touches on respect and naming. Cassius Clay or Mohammed Ali? Again, a conversation repeated for years across America, both inconsequential and yet significant in the naming of things.

Morris: Pound for pound, Sugar Ray Robinson's the greatest fighter that ever lived!

Clarence: Aw, come on, man! What about Joe Louis?

Saul: The Brown Bomber! Now that was a great boxer!

Morris: You damn right!

Sweets: I suppose nobody in here ever heard of Cassius Clay?

Morris: He got a point. Cassius Clay was a bad motherfucker!

Clarence: I ain't saying Clay ain't bad. I'm just saying I stopped liking Cassius Clay once he changed his name to Moh-hammad Ali! What kinda shit is that?

Saul: Wait a second, wait a second! A man has got the right to change his name to whatever he wants to change it to. And if a man wants to be called Muhammad Ali, Goddamit, this is a free country, you should respect his wishes, and call the man Muhammad Ali!

Morris: His Momma named him Clay, I'm gonna call him Clay.

Clarence: Mmm-hmm! That's right!

Sweets: I say Clay.

Saul: Get outta here.

Clarence: Ha-ha-ha! That's right! That's right! He gonna always be Clay to me. I don't give a fuck what he change his name to. He is Clay! He Clay to me. I say Clay.

Saul: Well, then, you're a putz. The three of you. Three putzes. You should change the name outside from My-T-Sharp to The Three Putzes.

A compilation of all the scenes. I really enjoyed Murphy's performance as Saul. That's acting for you.


Double click to enlarge.