November 14, 2007

"Something weird and cultish in the sycophantish cathexis onto Hillary of the many nerds, geeks and vengeful viragos who run her campaign..."

It's Camille Paglia (who admits she's "leaning" toward Obama). She's got her sights set on Hillary Clinton, and it's going to get ugly, with the hurling of dangerous words like viragos and cathexis and — my personal favorite — "sycophantish":
Aside from the stylish Huma [Abedin], there's definitely something weird and cultish in the sycophantish cathexis onto Hillary of the many nerds, geeks and vengeful viragos who run her campaign -- sometimes to her detriment, as with the recent ham-handed playing of the clichéd gender card. I suspect the latter dumb move, which has backfired badly, came from Ann Lewis (Barney Frank's sister), a fanatical Hillary true believer who has been spouting beatific feminist bromides about her for the past 15 years.... Hillary seems to have acolytes rather than friends...
Paglia goes on to lavish compliments on Dianne Feinstein — she's "shrewd" and "steady" — why can't she be the first woman President? Feinstein speaks with "silky ease" and has "true gravitas." Paglia also strokes Nancy Pelosi, who has a "relaxed, resonant realism" and speaks in a "low purr." Pelosi purrs but Hillary's got that "tight-wound, self-righteous attack voice" and that "flat, practical, real-life voice."

But there are no big conclusions here about Hillary. Just an expression of that vague irritation we all feel. (Don't we?) But I wonder if this is the reaction we would have to any woman who got realistically close to the presidency. And I'll bet that's the sort of thing Ann Lewis says behind the scenes, but that doesn't make it wrong.

Paglia lights into Ellen DeGeneres for her "cringe-making on-air meltdown over a dog":
Following Rosie O'Donnell's professional collapse amid lunatic rants and operatic kvetching, this has been a terrible year for Hollywood lesbians' public image. It's as if when the butch mask drops, there's nothing inside but a boiling candy kettle of infantile rage and self-pity.
Butch up, girls, says Camille. But don't forget to keep that voice at a low purr.

She's got this on global warming:
This facile attribution of climate change to human agency is an act of hubris. Good stewardship of the environment is an ethical imperative for every nation. But breast-beating hysteria merely betrays impious tunnel vision. Thousands of factors, minute and grand, are at work in cyclic climate change, whose long-term outcomes we cannot possibly predict. Nature should inspire us with awe, not pity.
That's a nice twist. Our arrogance lies not in thinking we can indulge ourselves in our carbon-spewing ways — as we're commonly told — but in thinking we move Nature. It's impious to think of ourselves that way.

On Norman Mailer:
I didn't care about his novels -- I don't care about any novels published after World War II (Tennessee Williams is my main man) -- but I was impressed by Mailer's visionary and sometimes hallucinatory first-person journalism. And I was directly inspired by his eclectic "Advertisements for Myself" (1959), which I took as a blueprint after my first books were attacked by the feminist establishment in the 1990s.
I will immediately go read "Advertisements for Myself"!
Mailer's "The Prisoner of Sex" (the original 1971 Harper's essay, not the book) was an important statement about men's sexual fears and desires. His jousting with Germaine Greer at the notorious Town Hall debate in New York that same year was a pivotal moment in the sex wars. I loved Greer and still do. And I also thought Jill Johnston (who disrupted the debate with lesbo stunts) was a cutting-edge thinker: I was devouring her Village Voice columns, which had evolved from dance reportage into provocative cultural commentary.
Ah, yes, I remember. How we hated Norman Mailer in those days. From this distance, I rather admire him for making himself as a vortex for feminist hate. He got into the center of things the only way he could.
[O]ne of the lousiest things Mailer ever wrote was his flimsy cover-story screed on her for Esquire in 1994. It was obvious Mailer knew absolutely nothing about Madonna and was just blowing smoke.
Because he neglected to read Paglia's musings on the subject, no doubt.
Guess what -- Esquire's original proposal was for me to interview Madonna. Mailer was the sub!
Ha ha. What a transcendent brag! I especially like the use of the word "sub," with its insinuation of phallic gigantism. Paglia has the bigger... writing talent.

Next, Paglia has a reference to my favorite movie:
Penthouse magazine had similarly tried to bring Madonna and me together, as had HBO, which proposed filming a "My Dinner with André" scenario of the two of us chatting in a restaurant.
Camille is the André, of course. Madonna would have to be the Wally.
But Madonna, no conversationalist, always refused.
Damn! Madonna just needed instruction on how to play the listener, like Wallace Shawn. "My Dinner with André" begins Wally's voiced-over anxiety about he is about sitting through a whole dinner with André Gregory. He resolves to get through the experience by, essentially, interviewing him. But Madonna's problem was not — I suspect — that she wasn't good enough at talking, but that she didn't fancy herself enduring a long outpouring of Paglia's thoughts about everything. To be a good Wally in a "My Dinner With André"-format movie, you have to wait while the other person has most of the lines, then finally, when the audience can't take it anymore, say "You want to know what I think of all this." And then charm us to the core with a few lines that we will remember for decades.

Hey, remember the time Camille Paglia refused to have dinner with me? I wrote a post about it called — of all things! — "My Dinner With Camille."

22 comments:

George M. Spencer said...

Cathexis...

the libidinal energy invested in some idea
or person or object

rhhardin said...

Paglia gets on famously with Limbaugh at dinners.

She thinks of him as somewhere between Mozart and Jack the Ripper.

Ron said...

She refused to be the Wally? Inconceivable!

ricpic said...

My Dinner With Andre, only this time Paglia's dinner with Madonna? Excruciating.

paul a'barge said...

Well, let's just see about that Huma Abedin shall we?

Super hot.

Bob said...

Nerds, geeks and vengeful viragos is a great line. Sounds like it should be a book title, or maybe Rufus Wainwright's next CD title.

And did you notice that Camille has noticed Hillary being thought of as Nixonian? More and more will people come to see that obvious resemblance. One day (after Shrilly Hilly is safely in the Oval Office) someone in the MSM might even hesitantly mention it in a news story, only to be castrated and waterboarded by goons sent over by CIA Director Sidney Blumenthal....

*laughs*

Kirk Parker said...

"CIA Directory Sidney Blumenthal"

Jeez, Bob--thanks for the nightmare!

George M. Spencer said...

If anyone has any vocabulary words they need to know, just ask, and I'll look them up, okay?

Trooper York said...

Hillary had finally found contentment with her second husband. She was at peace and fulfilled in every sense of the word. The Sturm und Drang of her marriage to Bill was mercifully absent in the joyous union she now enjoyed now that she was President of the United States. They spent their days and especially their nights in a joyous union of the intellectual and the sensual that had fused an unbreakable bond. Every sensation she shared with her beloved was a gift from one to the other. Even exploring the nooks and crannies of the White House had a special appeal. Just the other day they had wandered up to the attic of the White House where various presidential oddities and curios are stored. There was the enormous bathtub of William Howard Taft that held 365 gallons of water. The hand carved ivory phallus that was presented to James Buchanan by the King of Siam. The simple card board box filled with wingtip shoes and black socks marked “Nixon Beach Wear.” JFK’s penis enlargement machine that was presented to him by that English spy. And in the corner was the true gem. One of the most intimate possessions of one of her true heroes. It was Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s wheel chair. Could she even touch it? Was she worthy? But her husband was made of sterner stuff. He had to be to have won her heart. He boldly went over to chair and sat down in it. FDR was a large man and the chair was spacious and sturdy. He gentlely pulled Hillary down to sit on his lap. He held her in his arms and slowly stroked her side as he nuzzled her neck, kissing the nape of her neck with a slow lingering caress. He blew gently on the small transparent hairs on the back of her neck, causing her to shiver and sigh. He cupped her breasts and gently massaged her nipples until the presidential areolas were dripping with moisture and heat. They slowly rolled back in forth in the historic artifact as their mutual manipulations grew more and more frenzied. Until Hillary couldn’t take it anymore. She turned to him and quickly rearranged their clothing and moved to straddle him in the FDR’s wheelchair. She slowly lowered herself down ….and then….and then….and then…she “Turned Up the Heat.” Her claque of sycophants, nerds and viragos continued to knock softly on the door to call her to her next appointment with Tax Increase League, but she did not respond. The only thing that could be heard was the squeak of wheels as they rolled from one end of the attic to the other. The Secret Service finally sent them away, the president is otherwise occupied, please return at another time.
Brought to you by Concerned Citizens Hoping to Humanize Hillary.

Brent said...

The majority of Hillary supporters - certainly those represented on this blog - are flat out irrational people who have given up part of their moral bearings (which is hypocrisy) to hope to see someone that can only bring continued and accelerating division to this country elected to it's highest office.

It will be the most selfish and divisive vote that can be cast next year.

Tituspk said...

I absolutely love Huma. I love watching her at the Hilary rallies on tv looking totally bored taking pictures and have Hilary sign books. Huma is amazing. Clothes, fabulous; hair stunning; tits and waist, fierce.

I feel bad for her when she is in some fabulous designer outfit standing in some cornfield in Iowa. You know she hates it but she still keeps her fierceness intact. You know the old saying, fierceness is always welcome.

But no one can touch Madonna. I absolutely love Madonna. I have been with her through every video, song, hair style, outfit and man. Her shows are a sight to behold. I have been to everyone of her concert tours and she continues to be perfection. That bitch has an amazing body-love the sculpted arms and she is almost 50. I scream MADONNA when she is on stage. She is my role model. She has a new album coming out again and I am so excited. I cry, sweat, love, get wet,and pant for Madonna.
Madonna is amazing. Camille has always had a thing for Madge and I love the fact that Madge dissed her. Like Madge is going to have a "converation" with Camille. Give me a break.

Methadras said...

Ah yes. Another user of the solemn vapors.

John Stodder said...

Of course, Camille Paglia and Norman Mailer! I believe the first time (and until today the last time) I saw the word "cathexis," it was in a piece by Norman Mailer. It is well-applied to the cordon that's been around Hillary since before '92, the people who marketed the absurd idea that Hillary was one of the very best lawyers in America. They probably believed it, too. What many of us think just has to be spin might, in fact, be unreasonable devotion.

(But, I'm still planning on voting for her. From this field of candidates, I don't know where else I could go.)

If Paglia wasn't such an academic, she could easily become Mailer's equal (when Mailer was really good, 1960s and 70s) as a visionary non-fiction writer. As it is, she's extremely entertaining, but there's a whiff of the ivory tower in her writing.

Mortimer Brezny said...

But I wonder if this is the reaction we would have to any woman who got realistically close to the presidency.

Oh, please. Diane Feinstein does not irritate me. At all. Nancy Pelosi does irritate me, because she is an airhead. But Hillary Clinton is yucky for reasons that have nothing to do with her gender or other women. Like, she plants questions at her events. And she is shrill. Not every woman is shrill. And she didn't get elected in her own state. She's a carpetbagger. Just ask Huma.

rcocean said...

She nailed it on Feinstein. I dislike her politics even more than Hilary! but she exudes quiet feminine strength. And she actually got elected on her own, as opposed to being Mrs. Clinton.

If the Democrats weren't such a bunch of weirdos they'd draft and nominate her. But of course, they *heart* Bill and Hilary.

Michael Barger said...

Camille - when she is good she is very, very good, when she is bad ... well, I go easier on her than you do. She never invited me to dinner so I can't get pissed about being disinvited.

I do hope the two of you do have dinner sometime. I would pay good money to watch that. Yeah, that's the ticket. You could sell tickets, or webcast it. Battle of the Feisty Broads.

Michael Barger said...

As one of two Republicans in San Franciso (the other one is Matt at his blog, The Only Republican in San Francisco) I have to say compared to the prevailing leftist politians here, DiFi is a towering giant of sanity.

Some years ago she championed the visit of an aircraft carrier. The furious lefties came up with a poster they put up all over town:

Background: The aircraft carrier
Foreground: DiFi as a hooker leaning lasciviously up against a light post.
Caption: She wants it. We don't.

It's my favorite image of her.

Michael Barger said...

OK. Camille is uneven. But I always find her totally amusing even about things with which I strongly disagree.

She is our somewhat toned-down Oriana Fallaci tigress. I can't think of anyone quite like her.

I really love the passion with which she takes on the PC gender/race/class PC totalitarians.

Her review of three recent academic books on male sexuality called "Rigid Scholarship on Male Sexuality" is superb and hilarious.

Take away:

"When any field becomes a closed circle, the result is groupthink and cant."

The review is here:

http://chronicle.com/temp/reprint.php?id=qbd8jjrqwgt53q8slbb17zr2bh09nsxd

Anonymous said...

"breast-beating hysteria" ? I love all womens breasts -and,of course,vaginas, for that is where the real pleasure/elevation to "God" lies. But I am, unavoidably, first attracted to big natural breasts (and I can tell the difference with near unerring accuracy...especially when I see them swing -or not- when she bends over...). But all women's breasts always have something fascinating about them...even the little ones.

Anonymous said...

I got so excited thinking about women's breasts, I forgot to post this:
jewsyonkersislam # 440 Address on Yonkers schools to Yonkers Board of Education and supporting newspaper documentation

ADDRESS BY THOMAS J.P. COURTNEY BEFORE THE YONKERS BOARD OF EDUCATION ON WEDNESDAY,11-14-07

" We're getting old, retiring. Yet you teachers have done such a poor job teaching that we have no competent-enough workers to help pay our retirement costs. All you teachers with cushy retirement packages, you who have failed utterly, do not deserve such largess. And you will be one of the first groups targeted to have your benefits reduced. According to your own statistics, Yonkers Public School students are 82% minority. But despite billions, Yonkers schools continue to fail -more and more each year. Special Ed students are now 16% or more and cost far more than regular students. Everybody knows it is harder to teach kids from single-parent -fatherless- families. But why do we have these problems ? Harvard Medical School Psychiatrist Dr. Alvin Poussaint noted that 80% of black children born in 1940 were to 2-parent families, but that percentage dropped to 30% in 2003. Commedian and TV star Bill Cosby said "lower income people are not holding up their end of the bargain". Why ? I'll tell you why. It is the nonsense you teachers teach. Male and female, boys and girls are not equal. "

Taken from Westchester Times Tribune,10-31-07; supporting documentation.

" Status of the Yonkers Public Schools
The Trustees are absent and disengaged.The Superintendent is simply
the Mayor's de-facto department head Mayoral / City Council actions
continue to politicize the school system for obvious personal gain....
Funding shortages persist and funding allocations are being misdirected or covered up.... Collapse of the Adult Basic Education program... no audit by Phil 'see no problem'  Zisman, the same I.G. who found nothing in the YPA/college scamming tuition program. Overstaffing at Central Office of political friends on the business side and personal friends of the Superintendent on the academic side... Return to yesteryear, as Pierorazio pulls in every retiree from his
bygone days into his inner circle to watch his back as the ***school system
slowly deteriorates.*** Senior Central Office staff, along with senior administrators with experience, are nearly all gone; Pierorazio's answer is to restaff with out of towners.Teachers continue to run most schools, especially the elementary."
Is there hope for the Yonkers BoE. Not with the feminist way they're going.

dave™© said...

The majority of Hillary supporters - certainly those represented on this blog - are flat out irrational people who have given up p--

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ulla riitta said...

In continues to amaze me that majority of Hillary's supporters are women. Yet nobody has brought attention to her fierce belittleling of women less intelligent than her.