Let's Step Outside.
Maybe I'll get around to reading "The Naked And The Dead" before I die. Probably not. I'm in no hurry to descend to the next level of depression.
What has not been depressing is reading anecdotes about Norman Mailer. The word pugilistic and its variations appear frequently in these stories, which is understandable since the same pointy-heads most likely to have encountered Mailer are the only ones who use the term, and, like the heirloom china hibernating in the cabinet, few occasions are worthy of its use.
Some will think it a poor reflection on my character to admit being amused, even a little charmed, by Mailer's legendary willingness to occasionally challenge a rival, critic or random party guest to a good old-fashioned fist fight. Mean drunks are not my favorite breed of human - far from it - but the bulk of my contempt is reserved for the malicious, sober ones, if only because there are so goddamn many of them in positions of power and privilege.
Mailer was the product of an era in which obnoxious assholes accepted the risks of injury (usually non-fatal) and public humiliation as potential consequences of their behavior. Consequences which, at least for supporters of corporatism, no longer exist. Not that this poses a problem for liberals, attached as we are to the notion that violence never, ever, ever solves anything solely because we wish it was true. But who among us would spare the torture-loving, Constitution-hating, war-profiteering plutocrat from the indignity of a well-timed broken nose and an unmoored bloody tooth falling to a polished travertine floor reflecting a thousand hyperactive flashbulbs.
How fortunate we are to live in such a civilized time; one in which socially acceptable violence is confined to paid professionals working on behalf of The State, athletes and persons defending their possessions.
What has not been depressing is reading anecdotes about Norman Mailer. The word pugilistic and its variations appear frequently in these stories, which is understandable since the same pointy-heads most likely to have encountered Mailer are the only ones who use the term, and, like the heirloom china hibernating in the cabinet, few occasions are worthy of its use.
Some will think it a poor reflection on my character to admit being amused, even a little charmed, by Mailer's legendary willingness to occasionally challenge a rival, critic or random party guest to a good old-fashioned fist fight. Mean drunks are not my favorite breed of human - far from it - but the bulk of my contempt is reserved for the malicious, sober ones, if only because there are so goddamn many of them in positions of power and privilege.
Mailer was the product of an era in which obnoxious assholes accepted the risks of injury (usually non-fatal) and public humiliation as potential consequences of their behavior. Consequences which, at least for supporters of corporatism, no longer exist. Not that this poses a problem for liberals, attached as we are to the notion that violence never, ever, ever solves anything solely because we wish it was true. But who among us would spare the torture-loving, Constitution-hating, war-profiteering plutocrat from the indignity of a well-timed broken nose and an unmoored bloody tooth falling to a polished travertine floor reflecting a thousand hyperactive flashbulbs.
How fortunate we are to live in such a civilized time; one in which socially acceptable violence is confined to paid professionals working on behalf of The State, athletes and persons defending their possessions.
posted by Arvin Hill at 11/13/2007 05:00:00 PM
16 Comments:
hey big guy,
you mention atheletes getting a dispensation-- I couldn't help but think of how T.O. recently got slapped down with a hefty fine for using a football as a prop when he pretended to use it as a film camera, making fun of the New England fine.
He can afford it, but that really isn't the point-- now, even the NFL wants to send a message to people not to get too uppity.
But who among us would spare the torture-loving, Constitution-hating, war-profiteering plutocrat from the indignity of a well-timed broken nose and an unmoored bloody tooth falling to a polished travertine floor reflecting a thousand hyperactive flashbulbs.
What does the temporary takedown get you? The people you describe are the people you describe because of the attitude, education and positions they have. Bloodying them would not deprive them of any of those things specifically; they are not related -- although you may get some immediate personal satisfaction in thinking they are like you because they bleed similarly. But that's where the similarity ends; they may be members of the same biological species, but they are of a different class.
What does the temporary takedown get you?
A cost-prohibitive felony.
But I'd still pay a modest cover charge to see it.
I'd pay to watch the pols go at it Burr-Hamilton style. TV ratings would go through the roof for that sort of entertainment.
agibrings up an interesting point; in the days of Burr and Hamilton the upper classes were expected to value honor and shoot at each other, whereas today it's us great unwashed who are expected to go at each other-- not for honor, just for access to resources and consumer goodies.
"I'd pay to watch the pols go at it Burr-Hamilton style..."
Comandante: I can think of at least one surrogate I'd like to throw into that spectacle. (Dig your latest site, BTW.)
"...whereas today it's us great unwashed who are expected to go at each other-- not for honor, just for access to resources and consumer goodies."
Jon: All Hail The Politics of Scarcity!
...in the days of Burr and Hamilton the upper classes were expected to value honor and shoot at each other...
How do we know that? We know the history through the eyes of the educated class (usually the overclass). When I write my biography it will surely all be about honor and dignity; unfortunately the people at the sidelines may not see it that way and these days the voices of many more are heard.
All I'm saying is that passing the history forward was very seldom left to the the uneducated, the underclass, the indentured servants, the slaves and if it is occasionally found on scraps and remnants it can be dismissed in relation to the volume of thought by the great white men.
When I write my biography it will surely all be about honor and dignity...
That would be a funny pitch. And a really small advance.
Thanks, Arvin. We've been doing surprisingly well for a new blog. We've already pissed off an A-list "liberal" blogger and have been redacted from her site. This post, followed by some email correspondence between myself and said offended party, resulted in this lengthy response.
We are quickly becoming the black sheeps of the blogosphere!
P.S. I'd love to see Kos in a steel cage match.
comandante agi: I actually saw the post which so oppressed Ms. McEwan and, prior to a single comment on that thread, remarked to my wife (laughing) "I can already smell the kerosene on the torches of the language police." She asked why and I said "Because this guy called a pig a cunt." (Incidentally, you'll be shocked to learn I've caught a lot of shit from liberals for calling cops 'pigs' over the years... but it's easier now than ever.) The ensuing discussion over the cunt remark was brief and unremarkable. (As an aside, anyone who knows me - hell, anyone who has spent even a little time on this blog - either knows or quickly surmises Mrs Hill is no wallflower. She kicks ass and takes names and has the fucking scars, metaphorically speaking, to prove it. She is the strongest woman I have ever known or expect to know. And we're fast approaching our 25th year of marriage.)
I read the the post & comments at Shakespeare's Sister and wasn't particularly impressed with the strength of the criticism, although I'd rather burn down an orphanage than get sucked into a point-by-point rebuttal with people who are irreversibly invested in a specific viewpoint. I've got a new Harper's to read.
Like a lot of popular blogs with a large, ideologically monolithic readership, visceral reactions to offending subjects are often reverse-engineered until some byzantine rationale and/or system emerges which is accepted by the pack. The boundaries of ideological purity are then defined, and those who reject their validity are designated as the enemy.
More accurately, this is a fundamental human behavior that manifests itself in any number of social constructs. Online communities. Neighborhoods. Churches. Places of employment. But on the popular blogs (Kos and AmericaBlog immediately spring to mind), as the comments pile up, the dynamic becomes easily identifiable. George W. Bush's with us or against us approach to foreign policy would be an example of this same dynamic. A person with too much time on their hands would likely find it here, as well, although I like to think it might take a while (or not).
But more to the point: The reflexive ease with which McEwan characterizes any man who uses the term cunt as a misogynist is as irksome as it is predictable.
Let's see if I understand this - and it would be hard not to considering the vigor of her tedious assertion: Regardless of a man's actual beliefs and the sum total of his actions - including all the battles he has ever fought and is committed to fighting in the future to directly oppose sexism - should he ever use the term "cunt", that man is a misogynist. A woman-hater. An oppressor.
I can't imagine why a person would find McEwan's proclamation illogical, irrational or inconsistent. Unless, of course, they're misogynists!!! And isn't that tidy? Easy as pie. Effortless, in fact. Effortless enough to qualify as lazy and even ignorant, which were two charges leveled against the oppressive woman-hater who had the audacity to defend his use of the word "cunt."
Interestingly, McEwan waives the rule for The Rude Pundit since his deft and judicious use of the offending term is couched in a "character" instead of a real, live person like, say, the misogynist sack of shit who goes by the name of comandante agi. This convenient waiver would presumably absolve Peter Griffin of "Family Guy" fame should that character ever become a blogger on the FOX website. I sure as fuck wouldn't bet on it, though.
McEwan's overwrought, disproportionate, hyper-kinetic response - tangled, as it is, in too many contradictions to bother listing here - exemplifies why, despite three solid decades of escalating right wing domination, including seven years of George W. Bush, "The Left" is nowhere near close to getting its shit together. "Progressives" are absolutely resistant to standing shoulder to shoulder with anyone who doesn't pass the ideological purity tests du jour. No matter what level of madness American society descends to, liberals as a group can reliably be counted upon to remain an amorphous, ineffective, narcissistic bloc. A herd of cats. A bunch of disconnected, self-congratulatory, nit-picking beacons of moral integrity. Even if it means being owned by Fascist Fucking Pigs who openly torture and kill and defend The Kleptocracy without the least bit of meaningful resistance. So what if we no longer have a Constitution? We've got principles, goddamn it! And as much virtue as we, or anyone else, can possible stand.
Very well stated, Arvin.
There are two sets of morality in this world - the privileged system of solipsistic self-proclaimed leaders and the morality of everyone else.
Following my new rule of being less verbose after the conflict with her majesty, I'll simply say thank you for your response here. Far more enlightening than anything I've heard thus far on the subject.
P.S. I thought Mr Fish's post on Mailer was pretty on the spot, myself.
de nada. I had my doubts as to whether the subject was worth dissecting. But since I'm becoming increasingly contemptuous of the circle-jerk dogma manufactured by the over-educated vanguard of liberal conventional wisdom, I figured I could use the exercise.
As for Mr Fish aka Dwayne Booth, I am nothing less than amazed by the essays found there. That's the kind of rare talent that makes me want to step away from the keyboard, turn on some Sirius Pure Jazz, curl up with a bong and wait for Death to come a-knockin'.
"Progressives" are absolutely resistant to standing shoulder to shoulder with anyone who doesn't pass the ideological purity tests du jour."
I got into a dust-up a few weeks ago with the people from Creek Running North. In one of my cartoons, Sean Vanity from Fox News says that he "can't confirm or deny the rumors that Bill O'Reilly cleans Dick Cheney's guns using Michelle Malkin's massage oil and old loofahs". According to CRN, I was perpetuating an Asian Whore stereotype, despite saying nothing about malkin being Asian, or using the word whore. The comment thread went downhill quickly. Chris, the guy from CRN, then accuses me of making a cartoon that would fit right in with Klan literature from Buffalo back in the 70s. The offending cartoon for that comment was one where I had Bush and Condi enter a restaurant. Bush orders a KoolAid, and Condi orders a Motherfuckin Ice Tea. I was obviously ridiculing Bill O'Reilly's comments about dining in Harlem, and provided CRN with links to the incident that I was satirizing, but he still maintains that the cartoon was racist.Of course, he has a vested interest in rooting out racism, as he is the organizer of Blog Against Racism Day.Must have been a slow day for racism... The guy's whole tone was "why aren't you listening to me? I'm so much smarter than you. I taught myself to read before I was 2 years old!" and I know that he taught himself to read before he was 2 because he tells everyone so on his "about me" page...
That's nuthin'. I taught myself how to read before I was conceived.
But I'll admit I'm really tired of wealthy white folks being stereotyped as Koolaid drinkers. It's very oppresive, and if you don't watch it, the psychotic pitcher will break down your wall and force your children to make sneakers for 7 cents an hour. Oh yeah!
zen: That's a pathetic story. The blogosphere is just chock full of humorless assoles. That some are more well-intentioned than others is of little comfort.
jon: Don't get me started. I've been at a Caribbean resort for the last several days, having accompanied Mrs. Hill on business here. Places like this (which will remain nameless so I can reserve the right to anecdotes in the future) are a scourge on the planet, One need only examine the grotesquely inflated prices of everything here (spectacle is expensive) and the over-indulged clientele to conclude the human race is, indeed, doomed - and rich Americans are leading the way.
Funny you should mention rich white folks being stereotyped as Koolaid drinkers,as I've had an opportunity to observe rich black folks more than usual this week,and can state that they, too, are, not surprisingly, rather big fans of Koolaid, albeit of a different flavor - same sugar & cyanide content. White establishment or black underdog, the message is the same: If you dedicate your life to hard work, then you, too, can get rich exploiting the laboring underclass.
Thankfully, we'll be home on Tuesday evening if I don't end up being waterboarded in Miami.
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