Basically, the answers to all these questions are already on the blog. If that sounds enigmatic, I mean to be enigmatic. I'm bored by whether something is right wing or not and how can anyone be right wing and so forth. The point of the blog is not to be bored.
AND: Suddenly, I realize this is my inspiration. I know more about what you do — and you don't even have to ask me how or why or anything — just by looking than you'll ever know about me. Ever. I could tell you, you know, I'm not a right winger and explain to you why, but you wouldn't really understand. All you could do: You would nod your head, you could nod your head. I couldn't even be willing to try. Every word has its little letter and big letter, like the word "know," you know, K-N-O-W, and, you know, the word "know" capital K-N-O-W? Like each of us really knows nothing but we all think we know things....
January 22, 2010
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62 comments:
In the words of Rodney King, an infamous civil rights victim, "Can't we all just get along".
It seems that a most important question is missing!
I once received an anti-evolution joke present at a party. I said, "I don't get it. I believe in evolution." And someone called out, "Ohhhh! No, no! You're a conservative, you have to choose." He was serious.
I share this only to illustrate that lots of people out there have absolutely no idea what it means to be "right wing."
But to people who do know or don't care about precisely categorizing something that isn't precise, it really is boring.
Is boredom an emotion?
OT: Is it acceptable to use blooger word verifications in Scrabble?
And me, being a resident Somervillian for over ten years (after having lived in Boston for all of my adult/voting life), I'm tired to death of being called pro rape for my voting choice. Having actually had to deal with and move beyond The Physical, am really, *really* tired of having to deal with The Rhetorical.
I once told my father that I was bored, and that really bothered him. He said something like "Bored? BORED?! How can you bored?! I'm NEVER bored!" I said I didn't find enough interesting stuff around. He thought I was being a self-centered fool.
Whenever I feel bored (which still happens), I remember that brief conversation.
Why we continue to adhere to terminology generated by the world's first proto-socialist disaster, the French Revolution, I'll never understand.
Boredom is a clinical symptom of borderline personality disorder. Althouse is a psycho-pharmaceutical.
I'm guessing the request was not from the NY Times.
On a bookshelf at home, I have many many books including ones by Al Franken, Rush, Michael Moore, Van Jones and Coulter.
When my liberal sister was visiting, she tried [but failed] to surreptitouslsy point out the horror of the Coulter book to her son.
I was like "Jeez are you scared to read a book by someone who might actually change your mind about something"?
"I'm tired to death of being called pro rape for my voting choice."
One of the little waves spreading out from the Brown election showed up on an old post on my blog where I had complained that an author I really liked had become boring because she had become political.
And she did. Boring. It was sad for me because I really liked her books but I wasn't angry or worked up over it. Slight annoyance I suppose but mostly bored resignation.
In any case one of her fans found me after being accused of being a hater for having a "vote for Brown" avatar/icon, she got banned from fan forums and defriended by the author, and verbally abused when she sent a "I'm sorry, was this a mistake" note to ask to get reinstated.
There does seem to be a not uncommon notion that there really is no way for a person to *be* politically conservative or "right wing", not legitimately.
Is that what Althouse is talking about? Did someone want to interview her about the impossible mystery of being "right wing" (yes, I know, take a deep breath and quit laughing)?
Yes, really. That is boring.
Althouse defies the narrative. It's enough to drive some crazy.
Why is it so hard for people to discuss their views? We don't have to agree but we can still "all just get along".
It is easier to hold onto your principles and values if you're not afraid to discuss issues with other people.
Let's all show some courage!
Freeman Hunt said...
I once received an anti-evolution joke present at a party. I said, "I don't get it. I believe in evolution." And someone called out, "Ohhhh! No, no! You're a conservative, you have to choose." He was serious.
Excellent. The Lefties assume everyone who is religious can't believe that something like evolution could exist because all those theists are fundamentalists.
You really want to drive them up a wall, tell them there are certain liberal positions that you find perfectly reasonable. That free speech means everybody regardless of their political stance, f'rinstance; although they seem to have a problem with that one.
You can be me for a day. It's ok.
Of the last 20 posts, 7 were containers for complaining about Obama. 2 were dissing "liberal media." All the comments were filled with old white guys-- some of whom actually have some variation of "grumpy old guy" as their screen name. Talking in insane generalities about how "leftists do this."
Yawn
I'm sort of enjoying the odd notion of being filled with an old white guy.
Rude, I know.
But funny.
I suspect certain beliefs are true or false rather than right or left.
For example, socialism is a lie and need not be accorded any respect at all. It's complete bullshit, far worse than creationists claiming that the world began just 6000 years ago.
Affirmative action? False.
Minimum wage? False.
There are no reasonable defenses for these beliefs other than a desire for power.
Not right or left, but right or wrong.
Synova, you temptress. Everyone in here just combed their three hairs over the bald spot and checked themselves for B.O.
The Althouse Blog Commenters: Old white men and the women who love them.
Oops. I forgot about my secret boyfriend Palladian.
Althouse Blog Commenters: Old white men and the women who love them, and a self-hating old queen.
Bordeom is entirely natural
And is accepted as such
By all the happy "losers"
Who don't of life expect too much.
It takes two wings to fly into a glass ceiling.
Altouse Blog Commenters:
"Experienced informed men and some hot, smart women and one super-clever wine connisuer commenter from NYC wrangled by a choosy but smart, sassy blonde professor."
Fixed that for you Zach.
wv = facit
Palladian: I hope you're joking on the Borderline thing. Althouse likes to play games. I'm bonafide nuts and have manifested it here, but I Get that she's not nasty. (Understand that I have been. Ugh.)
Synova: just watching the agitprop from the local blog aggregate here wearies me. It's really, really hard being a kind of smart, though limited in certain aspects person trying to weigh the options intelligently while having other society/family/career issues to deal with in an area where this sort of thing isn't welcome.
Interviewers are not your friend.
Of the first 24 posts eleven started with the letter 'I', three with 'B', three with 'O', two with 'W', and one each for 'F,' 'Y,' 'S,' and T." Could you be any more boring?
Yawn.
I'm a right winger to left wingers and left winger to right wingers..
All I know is Iam a red sox fan..
Good for you!
More people should decline interviews. If we want to know what you think, we'll go to your blog and find out. Or if you are in another line of work, we might read your book or watch your movie.
I'm proud that Althouse stands athwart the media, yelling Stop, at a time when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who so urge it.
I smell the Madison student newspaper. Althouse, how could you turn them down.
You could give them the Feminist Superiority Declination.
"What is it about No Comment you don't understand?"
OT - at what point should we consider evacuating our people from Haiti?
After 10, 20, 30 "aftershocks"?
I dont mean to sound callous but somebody should be considering this.
I am a little sick of the nursery school wordplay taunts..
Rethuglicans
Demoncrats
Cap 'n Tax
Muslim in Chief
Etc.
I think it is fair to explain why the Left or Right is wrong, but personally tune out as soon as a poster affixes juvenile insult labels - "racist Republican", "evil pussy-Pelosisms", Chimpy, Rush-drugs, Martha Croakley, Bill O'Slimey, mass murderer Dick Cheney, Teddy died 40 years too late, the Muslim President, etc..
All that tells me is the person is not only boring, but has personalized their politics and stances down on an infantile level, and it is pointless to engage them in dialogue.
My mother is in Fla. on account of a medical checkup.. (she lives in DR)
Sure mother..
Mother just wont admit to feeling the danger zone.
I dont blame her.
C4, you forgot one "NY Jews".
Good evening and good weekend fellow republicans.
Heading over to the husbands place for couscous and movies.
Tomorrow we are doing "duo massages", seeing A Single Man and having dindin at a fab restaurant-not sure where.
We will be making our plans tonight in terms of timeframe for heading to Bangalore/Wisconsin.
Lots of housekeeping to tend to this weekend.
Thanks so much and have a great day, night, weekend and year.
Your friend 4 ever.
Kisses Dolls.
I meant fleeing the danger zone.
Tits Bounce
Just in time, Leonard Pitts explains how right wingers (like Rush Limbaugh, of course) are evil non-humans who belittle the victims of natural disasters and trivialize suffering.
He describes conservatives as "estranged from their very humanity, so besotted with their own righteousness, so deeply, damnably smug, self-centered, small and mean" that blah blah blah.
And
"A human being says, What can I do to help?
But the Limbaughs and Robertsons of the world say some variation of, God hates you. Or, You had it coming. They call that conservative".
Oh sure... Now y'all are filled with Peace & Love and all that...
In the other thread you were calling liberals "closet fascists", and in another they were the soulless nihilist soldiers of Stalin.
Peer pressure sucks!
And Limbaugh is alright. He became more alright after he was exposed as a druggie.
Robertson? No, he's not alright. He's offensive. His core is shown by his Haiti idiocy and his support of Falwall's Gays-Caused-9/11 remark. He sold his humanity to Evil masquerading as Jesus long ago.
I haven't been filled with Peace & Love since I was in 5th grade, in 1970.
Fine, anyone to the left of Sen. Evan Bayh is a socialist hellbent on the destruction of this American project, and anyone to the right of Sen. McCain (even if only on a single issue) is a torture-happy, homosexual-hating, corporation-loving knuckle-dragger out to rape women of color, deny them healthcare, and force them to not abort the subsequent issue.
That seems to be a given in political discourse today.
Let's all agree, regardless of political leaning, that this YouTube clip is awesome.
littlebeartoe wrote: I once told my father that I was bored, and that really bothered him. He said something like "Bored? BORED?! How can you bored?! I'm NEVER bored!" I said I didn't find enough interesting stuff around. He thought I was being a self-centered fool.
John Berryman wrote a poem about this, though the adult figure was his mother. In his cycle of dream songs, in which the central figure is named Henry (thus my remembrance of it), it is #14:
Life, friends, is boring. We must not say so.
After all, the sky flashes, the great sea yearns,
we ourselves flash and yearn,
and moreover my mother told me as a boy
(repeatingly) ‘Ever to confess you’re bored
means you have no
Inner Resources.’ I conclude now I have no
inner resources, because I am heavy bored.
Peoples bore me,
literature bores me, especially great literature,
Henry bores me, with his plights & gripes
as bad as achilles,
who loves people and valiant art, which bores me.
And the tranquil hills, & gin, look like a drag
and somehow a dog
has taken itself & its tail considerably away
into mountains or sea or sky, leaving
behind: me, wag.
Meanwhile, as I write this, my kids watch Scooby Doo on Netflix and they are not bored at all.
Politics have bilateral symmetry, just like people and their brains. Get over it and move on.
/snark
"Boredom"... vs. hypergraphia:
"...Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit,
And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,
I will be brief: your noble son is mad:
Mad call I it; for, to define true madness,
What is't but to be nothing else but mad?
But let that go." -Hamlet
Mark Steyn said something along the lines of whenever Republicans win an election it is because of anger and rage but when Democrats win it is kittens with whiskers and raindrops on roses. This pretty much sums up how my lefty friends view the world. I find that I know how they feel (notice I didn't say think) about every single issue. Every one. Whereas they might find that a bit more difficult to do with me. A righty.
Looks like someone is all ennui-wee'd up.
"we ourselves flash and yearn . . ."
Nice.
C4, yea, it's too bad it goes there too often.
Oh well, guess I'll watch hockey...an the Badgers are already down...
Suddenly, I realize this is my inspiration.
A corruscation..
Basically, the answers to all these questions are already on the blog.
Glenn Gould stopped doing public performances and put it all out in recordings for everybody to listen.
Gould declines a handshake.
All I can say is that I'm amazed at the Dylan interview. He was a bit before my time and I'm amazed that he was ever articulate. I've never seen him except to watch him slur and babble incoherently.
He comes off as quite the self-important little punk. That's excusable when you're that young, but the rest of the world shouldn't pay attention.
As for interviews, I think you're on the right track, Ann. You don't really need them.
My cousin just explained everything: Conservative are "misguided, evil, and greedy." My response was: "So?"
Oh the other hand not sure he wanted to hear how I'd describe Liberal / Leftist/Socialist/Marxists, but then that's a personal failing of mine!
Cheers.
"Althouse Blog Commenters: Old white men and the women who love them, and a self-hating old queen."
Why is it that inferior intellects resort to cliched pseudo-psychoanalysis when confronted by a person that they simply don't like or don't agree with? Especially shallow faggots like Zachary, who believe that their sexual orientation somehow comes with a specific freight of political beliefs.
Let me tell you about Zachary Paul Sire: a thirty-something (just like me!) little failure who lived with his mother until he got a job blogging about gay porn because he was too ugly to actually star in any.
Zing!
It's not really a zing if it's barely half-accurate zinging based on things I'm actually proud of...but if you want me to send you any free gay porn, just say the word. I know you're a big fan.
Interviews can be an excellent springboard to reality shows. Next get Mead into a helium balloon.
I've plenty of my own, darling. I know people in the industry. But thanks for the offer.
Plus, it's people like you who take the fun out of it. Pornography is not supposed to be something that you're "proud" of! It's supposed to be dirty and secret and shameful. Normalizing deviancy has completely ruined all the fun things in life.
Heh.
There is a downside to defining naughty down. ;-)
Oh for the days when a glimpse of ankle was alluring.
It's like the old story about the guy who dropped an F-bomb every other word. He slammed his hand in the car door and had nothing left to say.
So, Words no longer declines an interview?
ZPS wrote:
"Althouse Blog Commenters: Old white men and the women who love them, and a self-hating old queen."
Oh, c'mon, Zach. Don't be so hard on yourself. You don't come across as that old!
"Never tell the Platoon Sergeant you are bored and have nothing to do."
- Unknown Marine Recruit-
WV: hydro
Cedarford: All that tells me is the person is not only boring, but has personalized their politics and stances down on an infantile level, and it is pointless to engage them in dialogue.
I recently discussed politics with a friend I shoot archery with. Re the outing of Valerie Plame and Scooter Libby's role in it. He was all "Scootie this" and "Scootie that". He sounded so stupid that I couldn't take him seriously, and I lost alot of respect for him as a rational and reasonable person.
[...]
Freeman: I share this only to illustrate that lots of people out there have absolutely no idea what it means to be "right wing."
Similar story. Dinner at home of Jewish relatives. Very liberal, but also despise socialism. Both daughters well-educated. And I respect them as liberals because they actually walk the walk - dedicating almost all of their time energy and MONEY to things like the Peace Corps and third world aid programs. Always overseas installing some plumbing or medical facility in some poverty striken hell-hole.
Daughter asked me at dinner what conservatism meant. With all her education, she had never been exposed to it. Sad.
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