Sarah Palin
I’ve not had anything to say about Sarah Palin and the Republican ticket in general yet, but those of you who know me probably know that it’s been coming. McCain is basically just a bit pathetic. He used to be the voice of reason and tolerance in the Republican Party, and it was genuinely good news that he was nominated to run. Now, unfortunately, in order to generate any sort of enthusiasm within a party base who generally don’t trust him, he has been forced to capitulate to all the standard Christian Right idiocy and has managed to not only sacrifice his credibility in the process, but also any semblance of dignity.
I was genuinely amazed when Palin was first nominated as the VP candidate, and the gamut of emotions I experienced swung wildly from delighted horror, to cackling amusement as she blundered her way about the place, cheerfully lying through her teeth and splendidly displaying her gold medal-standard ignorance for everyone to enjoy – basically showing herself for the vapid little small-town ignoramus she is. It was, for a bit, really quite funny. But not for all that long.
Watching the gleeful, baying enthusiasm from the troglodytes to whom she appeals was bad enough, but it’s the smug, self-satisfied smirk on her face when she yet again fails to answer a simple question with even a spoonful of coherence that finally began to ruin the fun. This parochial fishwife simply has no idea how contemptuous she is. Has anyone seen Kirstie Alley in Drop Dead Gorgeous? That is who Sarah Palin is.
Anyway, I was reading Dispatches From the Culture Wars the other day and it finally provoked me into writing this post. The disagreement started when a commenter referred to Palin as a hooker, which was pretty sharply challenged. I didn’t really think it was the most accurate of insults, but a commenter called democommie, who has commented here once or twice before, put it better than this:
Sarah Palin is not quite a hooker; she’s more like a stripper, acting as if she’s going to give you something you want, in exchange for your attention and money.
I think this actually sums it up better, although I don’t have a massive issue with calling the silly cow a whore. If she were selected for anything other than her whore-like qualities then I might have more of a problem with it, but she wasn’t. She was chosen to make men bypass their critical faculties and to remind women that brains are worth nothing unless you’ve got a decent pair of tits.
I’m not sure to whom this stupid bitch is more insulting, the women who she has reduced to smirking breasts-on-legs or the idiotic men who see an attractive girl, get a bit of an erection, and suddenly think that looking good bent over the hood of their truck is in any way a qualification for political office.
It’s like she is on a one-person mission to humiliate the United States by demonstrating that no-one is capable of thinking in anything other than their shallow stereotpical templates. And by showing that democracy and political discourse are complete fictions – basically if you secretly want to fuck a candidate then that’s pretty much enough. Either that or a little rush of blood to the penis allows a man to suddenly ignore the nagging doubts in his brain and embrace a heady combination of sexual arousal and tribal submission irrespective of the cognitive dissonance required to do so.
It’s beyond a disgrace. It’s a stunning insult to the intelligence of an entire nation and the sad thing is that it seems to have been a decent bet – people really are so shallow as to fall for it. Her credibility shouldn’t even be close to being a talking point – the woman is a tongue-tied, parochial fuckwit and it’s embarrassing enough that it has even come this far, never mind that there is the sliver of a possibility that it could go any further.
She is a cartoon cut-out of a female stereotype from the thirties – a goddess in the kitchen, and angel in the parlour and a whore in the bedroom. Hillary Clinton (who I do not like very much either) must be crying into her cornflakes, watching all the blood, sweat and tears she put into showing that women can be serious and respectable political figures be washed away in an instant by the vapid, misogynistic stereotype that Palin embodies.
She is beneath contempt, utterly disgusting and as a country the United States should be fucking ashamed by this whole circus. Pathetic. She is no more than a vanity reach-around for the man who deludes himself that he can think, yet nurses deep-rooted anti-female stereotypes. She has no qualities other than both her modest feminine charms and her total undermining of a couple of hundred years of female suffrage. Wonderful. If women are stupid enough to fall for it, which tragically they seem to be, in their thousands, then what sort of utter lack of self-respect does that show? We’ve come a long way as a society in terms of female equality, and this fucking cartoon of female inadequacy is a shameful fighting retreat for a social construct of women that should have been exterminated once and for all over thirty years ago.
Every woman who can string a sentence together and form even the most basic rational thought-process has been insulted by this worthless tart. It is fucking disgusting.
American Music Club – America Loves the Minstrel Show
Billy Bragg – Everybody Loves You, Baby
Ben Folds – The Bitch Went Nuts
Ben Folds Five – Your Redneck Past
I don’t have the right to vote in the US Election, but I wish I did, on the grounds that whoever is elected in the US elections ends up having an effect on everyone else worldwide, let’s face it.
Palin is creepy, she’s about a couple of degrees off Pauline Hanson, the Australian fishwife who fronted a racist party down there called One Nation.
Whilst I think choice is important, at the risk of getting sot, I really do think voting should be compulsory. And yes, of course I think it’s fine to spoil your ballot paper.
Bring the revolution on…
Ed
Could be worse, it could be Strache and Haider.
Haider. Christ almighty I can’t believe that. And it’s not as if Austria is in much financial hardship either – how the fuck did that happen?
naturally we all agree re. sarah palin. however:
silly cow
whore
stupid bitch
worthless tart
these are terms that make me feel, as you might put it, “fucking furious” almost every time i read your blog.
i really cannot understand what makes you think it’s okay to use these types of slurs, even against appalling vice-presidential candidates, especially in a rant that purports to defend gender equality and mutual respect.
i realise profanity is sort of your stock in trade, but could you please, please, please consider toning down this stuff for the benefit of those of us for whom it is still genuinely upsetting. we’re out here and we’d quite like to enjoy your blog uninterrupted by fits of rage…
emily
“Has anyone seen Kirstie Alley in Drop Dead Gorgeous? That is who Sarah Palin is.”
I can’t believe I never thought of that, it’s the most perfect comparison. Never has your ire been better-directed, well done sir!
“as a country the United States should be fucking ashamed by this whole circus.”
True, dat!
This circus is a national embarrassment, and Palin is a national joke.
What does it say about people who think that Joe Sixpack should be in control of the world’s most powerful nuclear arsenal? Dumber. Than. Dirt.
lol on the Kirstie Alley comment.
p.s. the new Ben Folds album is pretty sweet
=w=
I have a problem with republican women in general. No scratch that. I have a problem with the sort of woman that you apparently have to be in order to be part of the political establishment in the US. I have a problem with the fact that Ann Coulter can be taken seriously enough to have publishing contracts.
I have a problem with the fact that Nancy Pelosi and other doyennes feel it necessary to kit themselves out like superannuated hermes clad overgroomed air stewardesses – the obvious inference being, “hey honey, you can play a man’s game but turn up in the serious pinstripe or charcoal uniform of business and you assualt my masculinity and go too far”.
Hence:
Clinton 2004
http://www.radio-utopie.de/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/hillary_clinton___.jpg
Clinton 2008
http://connectpoliticditto.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/artyelloap.jpg
I have a problem with dinks like this Nancy Pfotenhauer http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/pfotenhauer.jpg who accused Clinton of working the female discrimination angle and whining about unequal press coverage a mere four weeks before making the same complaints on behalf of the shallow tits and ass hick that the McCain campaign wheeled in. She’s a fucking botoxed, infilled, disgrace to her sex.
And I have a problem with the idea of a constituency of Hockey Moms and Soccer Moms. Women in the UK drive their kids to football, rugby, judo, hungarian country dancing lessons and all sorts but its hardly a defining character. John McCain doesn’t make explicit appeals to male Rednecks, Religious Maniacs and Racists – why are male stereotypes being neglected. Why aren’t men shoehorned into dismissive sheeplike herds that can be won over with a nice pastel suit and a few smart arsed remarks about how hard life is driving an SUV full of well fed sprogs round a first world country.
The US elections repel me, I’m not surprised that women were hacked off at some of the comments addressed about and to Hilary Clinton but she fought hard and she fought dirty on occasion. I am surprised that they aren’t in open revolt about Palin. Its almost like a deliberate Republican attempt to put us back in the box after a near as dammit assault on male hegemony.
Christ, I’m not even a particularly feminist person in the grand scheme of things but these aspects of the whole campaign make me want to puke.
Because idiots are universal, how you appeal to them varies from country to country.
I’ll bet Karl Marx is wondering if you shoot yourself in heaven…Wait…no…used that one.
I think what terrifies me most about Palin is that she lower expectations of herself so dramatically before the debate with Biden that people declared she was a success simply because she actually made sense. She didn’t answer a question, and she was clearly just repeating cue cards but, simply not spouting half sentences was actually considered a success.
Unfortunately her hand is probably strengthened by the current economic climate which will just bring out those latent neo-conservative attitudes.
The Clinton administration was as much to blame as the Bush one for the sub-prime bubble but out of the two I can’t think see what value McCain/Palin give to a country trying to build a new identity. She just reinforces the worlds option of America – when they need to build a new one. McCain wanted more liberalised markets up until a few months ago, changed his tune now…I wonder why – the only tool he’s got left is to appeal to populist blamestorming.
Maybe they will get the government they deserve.
Gender equality, certainly. But I have no time for idiots, and they do not deserve respect. Particularly people who specifically play the gender card as a political gambit and then complain if it turns out to be a double-edged sword. You can’t stereotype yourself as a ‘hockey mom’ or any of that shit and the complain that people are using sexual stereotypes themselves, when they discuss you. The biggest problem I have with Palin is precisely that she is being delivered as a one dimensional stereotype, and if you look at some of the other quotes from that rant then I don’t think I am being unfairly harsh on women – I’m not very nice about the men involved either:
“men bypass their critical faculties”
“the idiotic men who see an attractive girl, get a bit of an erection, and suddenly think that looking good bent over the hood of their truck is in any way a qualification for political office”
“a little rush of blood to the penis allows a man to suddenly ignore the nagging doubts in his brain”
“the man who deludes himself that he can think, yet nurses deep-rooted anti-female stereotypes”
I think that harping on about the number one negative male stereotype should help balance things slightly. And I’ll go further, I think that secretly every one of these fucking pricks sees her as a feisty strumpet that they could tame, goddam it, and teach to be a good housewife. She has proved herself to be the threatened male misogynists perfect woman: strident and mouthy and a little bit confrontationally sexy, and yet a fertile breeder and baker of cakes. It’s the ideal fucking fantasy for every fucking man out there who is vain and delusional enough to kid himself and the rest of us that he wants women on an equal footing, but is actually scared shitless of the concept when it confronts him in reality.
So when someone like Palin comes along who is both strident of tone but submissive of action, their pathetic little penis envy is miraculously cured and they feel all big and rugged and manly again. I bet you most of the little weasels want to protect her from all the mean things people have been saying about her, whilst secretly getting a little tiny boner from the fact that she clearly knows absolutely fuck all about foreign policy or even basic economics, because that’s complicated man stuff.
In short, she appeals to just the sort of man who would never have the balls to handle a woman who genuinely was his equal, and makes do with this kind of puppet theatre instead.
She is the feminist equivalent of the Uncle Tom character – the ‘white man’s nigger’*.
*Yes, I know, I know. Still, at least I haven’t offended the Jews yet.
The triumph of American anti-intellectualism. There is a perversion of the American Dream that is currently gaining currency that thinks that is was supposed to mean that all people should be able to achieve what they aspire to in life irrespective of merit. I was sure that originally it went something along the lines of all people should have equal access to the opportunity that their abilities merit irrespective of background. I’m not American though, so I could be wrong.
God, I was SO waiting for this post. Merci, Monsieur Crapaud, merci beaucoup!!
P.S. I’m waiting for my absentee ballot with bated breath…
You know the Republicans are going to win on the back of this circus, don’t you?
(Wasn’t ‘Pfotenhauer’ Steve Martin’s surname in The Man With Two Brains?)
Well, well, well… Matthew, I wholeheartedly agree on all points but one. Your insightful analysis of Caribou Barbie’s current role in my country’s political farce, (while the international economic scene rearranges itself without ONE care for any of us — and it remains interwoven despite any ONE nation’s intervention, don’t forget), is indeed the average man’s wet dream. However, to assert that she embodies the goal of the whore is indeed an insult to whores. Rarely do whores act on behalf of anyone’s interest but their own, –their own immediate satisfaction, be that monetary or physical. And while there are those who already predict that Sarah Palin is stumping for 2012, I think she’s working for more esoteric goals; pats on the back from a father figure like John McCain, psychological/spiritual satisfaction from participating in an ideological project of moral domination in a culture war in American society, and (in her own backwards way of thinking) pushing a feminist agenda that says pretty girls can play the big boys’ game too without giving up their high heels and lipstick (read that as not having to lose their femininity and become lesbians, that’s how shallow their view of feminism is).
So, she’s no whore. She’s a very typical, shallow minded, modestly educated American woman who thinks that feminism is about women being able to remain “women” (read: judged by their appearance, held unaccountable for their mistakes, “respected” in a way that grants them privileges beyond what is expected for men) and yet participate in the civil sphere as men (read: powerholders, judged by their actions, held accountable for their success, assumed to be respectable regardless of their private morals). Whores are way smarter than that. Most whores I know, myself included are real feminists.
I don’t think I’d disagree with any of that. In fact I liked democommie’s description of stripper far better, as I said, but then my abusive nature got the better of me. And actually, I am not at all convinced this post was supposed to be derogatory to women in a generalised (and therefore perhaps prejudiced) as much as it was definitely intended to be derogatory to men on that same basis. Are there really so many men that need women to be like this? Sadly, yes there are. It’s pathetic.
And ‘Caribou Barbie’ still makes me snigger.
Here here! I was just asking a friend the other day, ‘When did it become offensive to be educated and respectable to be ignorant?’. The #1 complaint I hear levelled at Barack Obama is he’s some sort of elitist for being well-spoken and educated. There’s a bizarre culture that’s been developing over here in the states in the last decade that puts a premium on ‘averageness’. For some reason, the mob mentality is that we need ‘relatable’ politicians and decisionmakers. I don’t want a relatable President: I want a smart President that won’t get us all killed. John McCain is going to stay in Iraq for all eternity, as I doubt they’ll ever be ‘ready’ to take over their own country by his standards. Then he’ll die in office, and Sarah Palin will kill us all. I say that with all sincerity. I truly believe if that woman was President that she’d suck the entire world into hell (and I don’t even believe in hell).
I’ve come to quite like your abusive nature! And yes there are so many pathetic men that I fear for the result on Nov. 2 just a little bit and Sean knows exactly why. But then I console myself with the thought that we’ll all be in breadlines together by Jan. 2 and it simply won’t matter who’s president of our little, broken country.
” and as a country the United States should be fucking ashamed by this whole circus.”
Whoa, now my amphibian friend. As a country, the United States didn’t select Sarah Palin for this post. One doddering old man and his wing nut advisors selected Palin. Wait until the actual election before you start condemning the whole country and if McCain wins, I’ll join you. But for now, give me and my countrymen the benefit of the doubt. I know that our recent track record isn’t that good, but let’s see what happens on November 4.
Funny, as an expat I’m often the first person in the room to slag off my homeland, but nothing gets my patriotic ire up more than a furriner doing it!
McCain won’t win. He’s too short and doesn’t have enough hair. The Americans haven’t elected a bald man in the last hundred years or so, if ever. Although Palin’s flowing locks may even the hair balance on aggregate, Obama + Biden are still taller than McCain + Palin.
Dave – not sure if you saw much of the VP debate last week, but Biden indeed has a big, glowing bald spot. Not sure if the VP hurts the odds there.
I think it’s interesting that you bring up whether the selection of Palin is more insulting to men than women – on one hand, I recently ran across a poll that claimed the choice of Palin has turned more women over 50 into Obama converts, and I’m sure McCain figured that said women weren’t going to fall for Palin in the first place, hence a need to win over that token male vote. On the other hand, I’ve also encountered one or two people who – in asking who I supported and learning that I’d refuse McCain particularly on the basis of Palin – were shocked and asked, “even though it’d bring a woman into office?” This is perhaps one of the most insulting questions I’ve been asked related to any of my opinions, because it suggests that men assume women just want to see women succeed, regardless of whether they’re the right ones for the job. Frankly, if we’re at the point where people are assuming simply having a woman in office is the right step, period, than the country’s not as far along as some of us would like to hope.
I supported Obama over Clinton before the primary election, but after seeing how easy it was for Palin to get this far, I actually feel quite terrible for not supporting Clinton, because if she had been put up against Palin in the media she would have looked even more obviously qualified and made Palin look even more obviously embarrassing.
On a side note, during the VP debate last week it became apparent to me that Palin, like George Bush Jr., says “nucular” rather than “nuclear.” Christ.
Dave – I don’t entirely disagree. There’s not, for now, what would seem like winning momentum on the McCain side, which I would have thought was crucial.
A Free Man – well I am going to agree with you and disagree. As an expat I know the exact situation you are in. I grew up as an exiled Engishman during the Margaret Thatcher years and every time she did something stupid I would squirm because I could see exactly how it looked, particularly to people on the outside with less access to America’s normal people and better qualities.
For some reason, having brought the Muppet Show, Bill Hicks and Tom Waits to the rest of the world seems to count less when it seems that such a large proportion of the country is prepared to declare itself on the side of regressive ignorance and lame, anachronistic grotesques. Britain didn’t get much credit for its achievements when they were invading the Faulklands and refusing to stop trading with South Africa and basically dismantling their social support programmes and sending armies of lobster-faced football hooligans into every picturesque corner of Europe either.
People don’t see a fragment of the nuances from the outside, and are much more likely to see ‘a country’ despite the fact that any country is just an aggregate of its population and culture, and clearly no-one has any direct responsibility for it.
That said, I am not saying that you should be ashamed to be American. Partly that’s meaningless nonsense, as is being ‘proud to be American’. But when I was abroad I used to frequently cringe at Britain’s more tragic antics, because I could see it much more clearly through external eyes, who didn’t see things in the way I did as a (semi-)native. Remember that Diana hysteria? Fucking made me curl up in embarrassment every time it made the news. Which was a lot.
So that’s what I mean, not some type of deep-rooted shame for where you were born or who you are or for the millions of reasonable, intelligent people in the States, or indeed to disparage any of the good things that America has brought to the world. More like ‘being at a family meal and watching the annoying cousins you don’t like very much making inapproriate remarks and trying to feel up the fit waitress’ kind of embarrassment.
China – imagine the analagous situation of someone saying to me: “Well surely you support John McCain – I mean, he’s white.”
Aye right. Fuck off.
“I am not at all convinced this post was supposed to be derogatory to women in a generalised (and therefore perhaps prejudiced) as much as it was definitely intended to be derogatory to men on that same basis.”
whether or not that’s the case, matthew, it’s not what i was talking about. everybody agrees that sarah palin is a candidate chosen on the most appallingly cynical terms. it seems like it’s hardly worth writing a blog post about in fact but that’s by the by.
what offends me is not so much the content of the post but rather your constant use – not just in writing – of terms that i personally find heartily offensive: bitch, slut, whore, silly cow.
the thing about being un-pc is it’s okay and fearless and funny and everything when you don’t have extended contact with a variety of members of one of the groups you’re casually dissing (in the jenny lewis post, eg, “In the manner of a strident PTA mother slightly out of her depth amongst intelligent people who have been thinking and talking about much bigger issues for years…” that bugged me too) but when you do – you might end up pissing some of them off. like me, right now.
quite possibly, to those who know you well it’s clear that you mean to use these terms in some new, non-violent sense. but for people who don’t know you well at all, frankly, you’re just a man calling a woman a bitch, a slut, a whore or a silly cow. the kind of person we would normally try to sit out of earshot of in the pub.
emily
ps. i really hate having arguments with people so i don’t post these things lightly, and i appreciate your not flaming me in response. i should clarify that i’m not accusing you of sexism, i just wanted to let you know that you’ve taken this dismissal of political correctess / common courtesy way too far for my tastes.
i don’t have much to add at this point. i will say this. i think that one of the “fundamental” differences between obama and mccain, all the party-politics bullshit notwithstanding, is that obama seems to be able to think long-term, to see the big picture, to consider “our” place in the world as other countries might see us.
which contrasts so starkly with mccain, who has provided compelling, damning evidence of his knee-jerk impulsivity with not just his completely transparent choice of palin, but all the other stunts he’s pulled during the past few weeks–”suspending” his campaign, ducking out (then ducking back in) to the first debate, allowing palin to incite near-violence and racist outbursts during her campaign rallies with her slurs about obama–all in the name of winning.
so between the two candidates you have two entirely different approaches to life in general, and unfortunately for all of us, there are a whole lot of people out there who are very much like mccain: reactive, short-sighted, win-at-all-costs.
that being said, at this point i am cautiously optimistic–actually hopeful–that more people will see the value in obama’s approach and that he will really win this thing. i think palin is becoming a non-issue. she is hanging herself quite nicely with the scads and scads of available rope.
p.s. re: emily’s remarks about your language. i’m not usually offended by your “terminology” because you just as often call men offensive names as well, so you’re an equal-opportunity offender, as it were. but i could see how it might put someone off. however, it is part and parcel of who you are as a writer, so if it bothers someone to that degree, then that person might have to choose not to read it anymore.
p.p.s. i applaud her assertiveness about the issue, though. you’ve got to stand up for what you believe.
p.p.p.s. sarah palin and i have the very same degree–b.s. in journalism, which means i am just as qualified to be vice president as she is. scary thought!
mrs. toad–you might like this website: http://womenagainstsarahpalin.blogspot.com/
What I find most offensive about Sarah Palin is that we are discussing her.
In the debate last night, for example, Obama made a point about McCains plan to let people buy healthcare from out of state. It doesn’t seem wrong on the face of it. However, in the banking industry what happened when this regulation was removed was that all the top banks and insurance agencies moved to states like Delaware (Hmm, Joe Biden) where there are fewer regulations dictating their behaviour. These sates are glad for the business and banks are glad for the freedom. Now, look at the US economy and ask if this has served the people. Obama pointed out that it would have a similar effect on on healthcare meaning that people could be refused healthcare simply because one state made it acceptable to deny people healthcare if there are too many red flags in their medical history. Now who wants to speculate as to the number of times this was discussed, and the number of times they said the words ‘related to the crowd’ when dissecting the debate. This one, or the vice presidential one.
Now this isn’t vice presidents, this is presidential debates, and it’s huge for American citizens, and for America’s economy, which, it would appear, affects the world economy.
So fuck Sarah Palin. The only vice president to have any power was Cheney, and if they put McCain in office they stick her in a back room in charge of the Department of Moose affairs because she ain’t Cheney.
Indeed not.
I understand Palin can handle a hunting rifle.
oh Ben, fuck off, did you not see the debate wherein she said she hoped for increased legislative powers for the office of vice president??!! She aspires to be all that Dick is and more. This act of “I’m just a silly woman” on one hand and “I’m a barracuda” on the other hand, to keep the goofy, sex-starved men confused is just that, an act. That woman craves power and is not to be underestimated.
As for language: Emily I quite support your critique while at the same time, as a woman, and as a supporter of Matthew’s right to express himself on his blog in any way he chooses, must say that its fantastic to have this kind of dialogue and thank him for allowing it here. Language is indeed a tool of patriarchal domination. And no, his claims of gender parity do not stifle that. I chafed at it as well, I began my tenure here as a “troll” on that very issue. And over time, I’ve cut him some slack and picked my battles because I’ve found in him a champion of common causes. I’ll still speak up when he insults fat people, when he calls women bitches, and as you’ve seen on this thread when whores come into question, for those are terms that hit close to home for me. On some other fronts I shrug it off. He’s got his style, I’ve got mine, we always come to a laugh in the end, as do most, if not all commenters here. And I’ve found it to be a forum where for once, people really do listen to one another regardless of the profanities. So, I hope I don’t come off as preaching at you, I mean only to show support, to share my experience here and to say, please don’t leave. He’s not flamed me yet, for fuck’s sakes I’ve deserved it a few times! And thank you Matthew for your indulgence as we argue about your behavior in your own living room, xoxo
I wouldn’t worry, Tart. You should see some of the other behaviour Matthew gets up to in his living room.
And sometimes in other people’s!
Well I try not to react with too much hostility in any case, but particularly in this situation I would be an idiot if I didn’t accept that there are many ways in which I think Emily, and yourself, Tart, are right.
Then again, there are ways in which you are also both wrong. The ridiculous dance English has undergone from nigger, perhaps the most startling word in the English language at the moment, to negro, which is purely descriptive of a certain physiological type, albeit one discarded now, to black, which was simply a really generic description of skin colour, all the way to the utterly ridiculous person of colour and African American.
At some point this language-chasing, really deserves to be ignored. Taking offence at silly cow in general is just frivolous, as far as I’m concerned. And stupid bitch is a bit silly too, particularly in the case of someone who actually compared herself to a dog. The whore/tart comments become a little more dubious, but at the same time they weren’t used as a generilisation, they were used to characterise either specific behaviour or a specific set of characteristics.
Then again, I make more poof comments around Mrs. Toad than I generally do around our gay friends. Not that I stop making offensive remarks then, just that I tone it down, so I do accept that there is a line to be drawn somewhere.
I really do have no idea where though. The idea of removing all gender-related insults from language is fucking silly, to be honest. Insults are supposed to be insulting, that’s the point, and generalisations are a key concept of human thought. We’d never know the difference between a stool and a chair otherwise. Some women are silly bitches, the same way some men are stupid pricks. I know there’s a difference between what you can say from inside a group, to what you can say from outside it, but people so often embrace their own stereotypes (indie kids, neds, etc…) that it’s ridiculous to say that these demarcations should be meaningless.
I don’t know. This isn’t going anywhere, is it. I don’t have a point, I don’t think. I don’t actually mean to offend people when I use jarring language (of any kind), at least not exactly. I do intend to offend people silly enough to focus too much on words rather than meanings when taking offense of course. Of course words are important, but people like this frequently both need and deserve to be offended, because they are often the sort who tend to make stupid remarks about Obama’s lipstick on a pig comment and even, dare I say it, the insignificant fact that Bush, Palin and Christmas Jones can’t pronounce nuclear.
Basically, I suppose it’s a negotiation, isn’t it. The words are no more than a flag for the attitude, and when the flags go up you have these sorts of conversations and hopefully at the end I tone it down at little and you react a bit less hastily in future. But I guess nothing would make me more sweary than being jumped on every time I called that silly cow a bitch, and nothing would make Tart’s and Emily’s side of the argument more strident than if I responded with ‘fuck off, it’s my blog and I’ll say what I want’ every time.
What an incredibly long comment to say nothing at all.
Now Tart, why would you tell me to fuck off? I didn’t muzzle the woman; that was her own party. She was allowed out for one softball interview and one mandatory debate. She isn’t allowed to go off cue card and she isn’t allowed near a television camera. The republicans even leaked that they are embarrassed by her. She was brought in simply to sure up voters who didn’t like McCain. Clinton, Pelosie, Royal, Merkel, Bhutto (shudder) are all women who weren’t window dressing. She was. Or they would have picked someone clever who could express herself.
She purposely distracts from the debate of issues. You’ll note that that I wrote “that WE are discussing her”. It was not a personal attack against Toad or yourself. It was as much an admission of guilt as anything else.
You were personally attacking me? Ben, you silly cow.
Although, inasmuch as your above comment is entirely right, I think Tart does have a point when she mentions that Palin’s naked ambition and zealotry should not be underestimated as dangers. She is capable, irrespective of her role as professional misdirector in the election, of causing an awful lot of harm should she ever get a sniff of the Oval Office.
That said, yes, she’s not so much window dressing as intentional diversion, which applies as much to her insane Christian beliefs as to her particular brand of tawdry femininity.
Actually, I was really just doubting that a party that won’t let her express an opinion would let her run an agency. On the other hand they would not have much choice if McCain dropped dead. On the other hand, they don’t let Bush do much. On the other hand…
Oh God, I’ve spiralled into election fatigue cynicism…
Your remark about Palin’s pronounciation of nuclear reminded of Gordon Brown’s question time earlier today. He was arguing for a “new form of spanking” – pretty sure he meant banking though.
Is it really that hard a word to say…and he runs our country…not for long I suspect.
Sorry off topic but it made me laugh at the time.
Off topic in a sense. But in the grand scheme of things ‘nucular’ is an accent. I find it contemptible and it makes the person saying sound like a fucking pre-school student, but it is not at the end of the day that significant. Much as it grates on me to say it.
Cheney is not dead.if McCain karked it and the Moose was let loose in the caboose, she’d just be the next Cheney sock puppet the world had to endure.
Nothing says he can’t come back as part of the next cabinet. Him and his pal Rummy. John Bolton is at a loose end too and Karl Rove isn’t going to wipe W’s ass in his retirement. They can all come back and the wingnut element like all of the above better than McCain.
Of course, options are severely limited vis a vis the economy but the Great Depression only really lifted when the US got on a war footing. I’m sure Cheney could arrange an event along those lines.
Mrs Toad
Never a truer word was spoken. Although I don’t think Dick would bring Rummy along. Doesn’t it seem like they lost their faith in him for failing. The Devil doesn’t tolerate failure. I saw it in a Keanu Reeves film.
I’ve only just been able to wander into a place where the interweb was accessible (Washington DC is fucking awful for wifi coverage, Cf&Bf, just awful) so am late to the above exchange – but, I have to say I think Emily has a very good point (which largely remains unsatisfactorily addressed).
There really isn’t an intellectual justification for calling anyone a whore because (a) you don’t like them, (b) they’re perceived by one demographic, which itself is perceived as backward, as a ‘babe’, (c) they have a limited perception of life outside of their State line & so ‘Hockey Mom’ (read MILF, in some schools of thought) not only represents hardiness & independence but also means sassy & ALL WOMAN; therefore they knowingly play fast & loose with the possible/implied sexualisation of the subject &, by proxy, they become sexualised in the process.
The woman is clearly in posession of a narrow thought pattern directly influenced/educated by her smalltown upbringing, which makes her dangerously naïve on how politics work (i.e. the media-implied/stereotyped opinion that all Palin has to do, in order to get out of any sticky townhall scrape, like any other smalltown female politician in that very male of male strongholds, is wiggle, jiggle & giggle a little, & she plays up to it because it gets her a few more column inches*). However, & I think the crux of Emily’s point was, it’s not really justification enough to call her variations of a woman turning tricks for cash, or is in posession of an insatiable lasciviousness, which has an immediate negative stereotype & tars the gender with a base sexual implication of no principles, morals or dignity. It sullies an otherwhile comednable argument & softens the impact of any salient point raised. No matter how drenched in a capriciously raised eyebrow.
p.s. Cf&Bf – apols for not getting in touch re: sinking a few jars. I’ve not stopped here all week long + the internet in this city sucks so when I have had time I’ve not been able to email. Anyway, plans have changed & I’m headed back Friday afternoon instead of next week sometime. Looks like we’ll have to raincheck (looking likely until mid-November).
*no pun intended
Most of this is just wrong. I have now said half a dozen times that I don’t think whore is the right thing to call her. I admit that I let it slip through because I don’t like her, and I don’t disagree with point (a) but (b) and (c) are just rubbish. I reserved other epithets for those things and they simply don’t come into it. The biggest problem with calling her a whore in this context is that it is quite simply a bad comparison which, again, I have said plenty of times already.
The stripper comparison, however, does hold water because she and the Republican party are basically using tits and ass (as well as a dozen other male domination fantasies) to get people to bypass their critical facilities, project their wildest dreams onto someone who has no intention of fulfilling them nor the ability to do so, and do something blatantly against their self-interest. Pay £15 for a beer and give away money in one case, vote for a dangerously ignorant zealot in this.
If the whore comparison applies to anyone in this scenario it actually applies to McCain, who in his own self-interest (becoming president, not money in this case) has surrendered something supposedly sacred (his principles and beliefs) to people who kid themselves that he enjoys it (the ideological nonsense) as much as them. He was never such an ultra-conservative in the past, and he is merely playing one to get the reward a bunch of voters, for whom he probably doesn’t have an awful lot of respect, can give him. And acting like he loves it.
Note, there are no gender-based arguments here. There are male strippers and male whores, and this is simply making a behaviour-based comparison for the point, partly of insulting someone who I can’t fucking stand, and partly of pointing out the appallingly clumsy manipulation that the people orchestrating this are attempting.
Yes, I know. I’ve said this. Plenty of times. Although I will defend use of the word tart, which although it came from prostitution, nowadays seems to be taken to mean any excessively sexually brash type who may or may not deliver on the promises they imply, but intends to use those promises to twist people round their little fingers. This applies to both men and women. She winked at the television during the debate, for Christ’s sake. Several times. That is the behaviour of a tart, irrespective of gender. Obama can be seen doing similar things with his confident alpha-maleness. There is a real touch of the ‘Hey baby. Yeah, I just might‘ about him and as such I wouldn’t object to him being called a tart either.
This really doesn’t really mean anything at all, as far as I can tell. I wasn’t referring to ‘the gender’, I was referring to people who behave in a very specific way.
I didn’t see the debate thing… she winked at the camera?!
Three times, if I’m not mistaken. Jesus. Fucking. Wept.
Jesus wept? How do you think Emmeline Pankhurst felt?
Ben, apologies for fucking you off, I was rather excited and got carried away darling xoxo.
But, the woman has taken quite quickly to the pitbull image and has since made crazy statements and allowed even crazier ones to be said at her public appearances — with no censure, (statements such as “kill him,” “treason” and ‘terrorist” to be yelled from the crowd were made towards either Obama or Bill Ayers, a former member of the Weather Underground and now a Professor of Education and a neighborhood activist here in Chicago.)
Agreed, Matthew, McCain is the real whore here. And the winking …. it was sickening, a nation would cringe if only it could see that Sarah Palin isn’t the same person as Tina Fey.
Bible Spice reminds me of the all-popular-school-president. The one all the girls made fun of, and a lot of the guys,like myself, felt sorry for. It’s creepy.
oi! i’m a html hussy, sorry!
I’m voting for McCain: if only to undermine all the smug, sanctimonious douches who think Obama is the second coming.
Yeah, right, like it matters anyway.
If that is the only reason then you are an idiot. No policies, no personal attributes, nothing that you think recommends the man apart from that.
You do not deserve the vote, you fucking idiotic troglodyte. Piss off to Iran or China and give the fucking vote to someone who will appreciate it and make sensible use of it.
There are plenty of reasons to dislike or critcise Obama, and Messiah Complexes of any sort get on my nerves something chronic. If your vote is decided by being vaguely annoyed with some person or other then you don’t deserve it. If you’re going to vote against Obama then do it for his shameful u-turn on the snooping act, or at least something real.
At times like this I am reminded of David Cross: “Terrorists hate our freedom? I hate our freedom – is this all we’ve done with it?”
That’s right Matthew, keep spewing your puerile vitriol. It’s the hallmark of partisan windbags across the world. Amazing how far humanity has come, isn’t it?
Do you think Obama is going to “change” America? You think anything will really change in any event? Are you really that naive?
In that case, great! I’ve got some oceanfront real estate to sell you in Kansas. Hundred grand, easy deal chief.
Oh good grief, and to think that I made my way back to this thread to be sheepish about over-reacting last night when I was a bit drunk.
Now it seems I may have been right. You’re not actually reading, are you Justin. I haven’t mentioned Obama once in this post, nor in the comments until you brought him up. Classic misdirection. There is no defence of that Palin idiot, so all you can think to do is point at someone else and flap and scream and shout BAD MAN BAD MAN BAD MAN!
You have no idea what I think of Obama, do you? You can’t, because I haven’t told anyone yet. So I will.
For me the difference is more to do with competence. I can see McCain and Palin badly damaging America, either through their nonsensical plans to bail out banks with taxpayers money and then also to cut taxes to appease their base. I also see them as being capable of thoroughly isolating a country rather desperately in need of international goodwill as her financial power crumbles and diplomatic currency fails.
As for Obama, will he change much for the good? Well I don’t really think so. I think he is much cannier than those two and will avoid the potentially massive blunders they might make, but I don’t think he’s going to shit gold or anything silly.
His u-turn on FISA was a key sign that he is as cynical a politician as the rest of them – actually, I see him as America’s Tony Blair: stylish, intelligent and charismatic but actually far, far further to the right than people seem to think. And far more cynical that he is being given credit for.
In fact, I think this is why a lot of the more pragmatic and intelligent conservatives are ebbing away from McCain – because they see Obama as being a perfectly acceptable conservative president. I would agree. I think a lot of people on the left, once they get over the personality cult, are going to be rather disappointed. Clinton was like this too – his economics were basically Republican in many ways, and his attacks on oversight of government positively Rovian.
So there are two reasons I think people are enthusiastic about Obama: some are swept up in the hysteria, as you rightly point out, and some simply recognise that the Republican choice is a very poor one at this point. This is one of the reasons why Blair stayed in power for so long. He moved easily far enough to the right, particularly economically, that the conservatives (as opposed to the partisans) liked him and in so doing he wrong-footed the Conservative party so effectively that for ten years they were fighting an 80s political fight in the 00s.
This does look like what is happening to the Republicans. Obama is a very centrist candidate who appeals to the moderates on both sides. So he’s not going to ‘change anything’ in particular, as you say, but he has crucially changed his style to the extent that the Republicans have not adjusted and are fighting the wrong fight.
I hope that was helpful, Justin. Now, how much for that property in Kansas? Is there a deck?