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Syndicate
I don't think being hard-working is the reason for the deep suspicion of "intellectuals" in US culture. People work just as much in other countries - in poorer countries they have to work harder still - but there is not the same degree of anti-intellectualism.
And I have a lot of working-class relatives (working class in the traditional sense, such as garment workers) who wear pearl or gold necklaces whenever they can. But the poor dears are urban, so I guess they aren't the "heartland"...
Andrea Dworkin is one of the few North-American writers who has tried to describe, understand and touch our failing at countering how women are suckered by the Right into a self-destructive politic - something Mallick also summarizes brilliantly. Dworkin went as far as to actually attend a Republican Party convention, where she was almost mobbed, an experience she recounts in her book "Right-Wing Women". She positions that failing in the male Left's obdurate misogyny and sexual self-interest, esp. around the issue of abortion.
[ 10 September 2008: Message edited by: martin dufresne ]
Sorry, back to your regularly scheduled eating of your own.
If you read, and try to understand what's going on in the world, you don't fall into any of those categories.
So if I say that John McCain is an Old White Fool is there an assumption that anyone who is not old and white is also a fool?
"Pearl necklace"? Does such blatantly sexist language have a place on babble?
Her anti-sexual stuff gives me the creeps, much as I've rebelled against male entitlement in that milieu.
Have a boo. You'll find there's a standing invitation in that thread for just such comments.
Prove farmpunk wrong! [img]smile.gif" border="0[/img]
[ed.]
Ok, after skimming through that thread I have to apologise to Farmpunk.
I agree with some of what he said over there, although I disagree with his generalisation of babblers as being fans of "academic" writing. I have three degrees, and I detest that pompous fluff.
This is dead-on, though:
Over on Enmasse we had a Toronto Nude Em (he bugs people here, too) telling us western hayseeds how stupid we were for feeling alienated by the down-east urban focus of the NDP.
[ 10 September 2008: Message edited by: al-Qa'bong ]
Exactly. Palin is a vicious lying openly racist fanatic who is poised to be the Vice President of the world's most powerful country and people are concerned that we might have somehow insulted those who are brutishly ignorant and dangerous as she is?
And if we don't like Palin's female supporters, we'll just call them all a bunch of stupid cunts. That's okay, right?
I saw a whole bunch of dumb cunts at the Republican convention cheering on Palin. Man, what a bunch of rich bitch whores, huh?
[ 10 September 2008: Message edited by: martin dufresne ]
Is it Heather Mallick's intention; to sway the opinion of vicious bigots with entrenched fanatical attachment to reactionary ideologies? I would think more her intent is to expose dangerous small minded reactionaries for what they are.
Sorry but that is purely unimaginative and gratuitous relativism. This is clearly not the same thing and you know that.
Grow up.
Bull. Whatever the origins of the term "white trash" it is different from the contemporary meaning which usually encompasses people like Palin who have a streak of racism:
These are the supporters you want to sway?
While you are all debating small delicate things about whether I am a nasty piece of work and should I receive your guarded approval or limited hatred, here's what I'm up against, out of hundreds of racist, women-hating, sick emails I received today on my website, admittedly almost entirely from Americans.
djs5776@sbcglobal.net
Message: So you don\'t like Sarah Palin you ugly slut? Fuck you, you liberal piece of shit. I\'ll bet your cunt smells like rotten meat. You are one ugly cunt. I\'d love to punch you right in your chops and knock every tooth out of your head. Come see me bitch! I have something for you. Something all liberal pieces of shit need. Fuck off and die you fucking cunt!
Now you argue with this guy. I leave you to it.
The only motive for trying to expose "them" is the existence of people who are to some extent open to "their" message, but still not impervious to reason. You won't reach these people by insulting them.
Here's a better picture of our Steve, remind. No thumbs.
No. The left can't succeed 'cause its far to busy developing a clique of puritans who one day will lead absolutely no one to the land of anti-septic sterility.
On reflection, I'd have a lot less difficulty than you'd think.
It has nothing to do with the guy who sent you that e-mail. The left doesn't succeed in Canada because powerful, wealthy, corrupt interests are aligned against us. They have no culture besides a culture of greed and privilege, but they do use cultural differences to drive wedges between people who should have common interests against them. You do their work for them when you smear people with broad brushes.
Oh, come on! The quibble factor has something to do with it. We're all so busy parsing the language that the elephants in the room often don't get dealt with.
Sometimes strong language is the most appropriate, effective and conveys the best meaning.
[ 10 September 2008: Message edited by: Timebandit ]
Why not just have your husband delete it unread rather than revel in it?
You make a good living with your schtick, much like Anne Coulter and Mark Steyn so,the level of vituperative emails is a measure of your success.
That's a bit melodramatic, don't you think, Heather? I didn't see anyone here call you a nasty piece of work or say they hated you, except for one newbie troll that I banned for being such a misogynist pig.
Why would we want to do that? I wouldn't engage someone like that at all. Clearly there's nothing to say to someone like that, you just stay the hell away from them.
I'm sorry, but words matter. Excluding language matters. Maybe not to people who aren't being excluded by it. They have the luxury of rolling their eyes and calling it "political correctness" when they are called on using excluding language. Because it doesn't affect them. It doesn't dehumanize them.
I'm sorry you have received hate mail. I know how it feels, having received some of it myself through my work here on babble. People have called me horrible things, both here and throughout my life at various times, but that doesn't give me a free pass to call working class or poverty-class and undereducated people "white trash".
Does this make me the reason the left never goes anywhere? Well, sorry, but "left" to me doesn't mean dehumanizing the already marginalized.
[ 10 September 2008: Message edited by: Michelle ]
I agree, but strong language doesn't have to feed into stereotypes or alienate the very people we're hoping to reach. It's satisfying when we're talking amongst ourselves, but if we're really trying to change minds, I don't believe it gets the job done.
Exactly so does it not make sense to expose Palin and her base for the corrupt dangerous fascists that they are intent on brutal foreign occupation, violation of human rights and torture as well as a continued assault on marginalized and impoverished communities domestically or do we go along with the image of Palin as a plucky hockey mom.
There are those that know Palin as she is and adore her for it and there are those who are buying into the soft pedalled image. I think it makes sense to make the latter group more aware of the reality.
[ 10 September 2008: Message edited by: N.R.KISSED ]