November 17, 2010

As Bristol Palin makes the DWTS finals, the anti-Palin forces say look over here: It's Willow Palin's "homophobic rant."

The 16-year-old Palin was hanging out on Facebook:
Willow's target, a person named Tre who goes to school with the Palin kids, wrote a status update on the night of the show's premiere, which read "Sarah Palin's Alaska is failing so hard right now."

Willow quipped back, "Haha your so gay. I have no idea who you are, But what I've seen pictures of, your disgusting ... My sister had a kid and is still hot," referring to her 20-year-old sibling, Bristol.

She later added, "Tre stfu. You such a f*ggot," and "I'm sticking up for my family," TMZ reported.

Bristol then came to her family's defense, writing to Tre, "You're running your mouth just to talk sh*t."
Do decent people read a 16-year-old girl's Facebook page? But we've read it, so let's at least be decent enough to be fair to teenagers. It's common and casual speech to use the words "gay" and "faggot" like that. It upsets upright people, and it would better if the kids didn't do it — or so it seems, as we look down on the young from our lofty adulthood.

We might say that anyone who cares about gay people should strike those words from their vocabulary. But not everyone who hasn't already laundered their speech of those offensive words is "homophobic." (And not everyone who has, isn't.) You're "homophobic" if you actually feel antagonism toward gay people. There's absolutely zero indication that Willow has any negativity at all toward gay people. She's just pissed at Tre and talking like a teenager (or a "South Park" character). To tar her as homophobic is like saying if you call someone an "idiot," you hate persons with Down Syndrome.

So leave Willow alone, you creeps. And in saying "creeps," I mean no antagonism toward arthropods.

If we should be talking about the Palin kids at all today, we should be talking about Bristol. A complete underdog, Bristol Palin made it to the finals of "Dancing With the Stars." She had no experience as a performer, certainly not as a dancer, and it's incredible that she kept going at all, as the judges and others either tore her down or — when they saw the votes flowing in? — were modestly supportive. Week after week, she landed at the bottom of the judges' scores, but she made it up time and again as regular people called in enough votes to overcome the disadvantage the judges had imposed.

This week, the people bumped her ahead of the judges' darling Brandy:
Last night, Bristol Palin made the finals of Dancing with the Stars, and I think nobody was more shocked than Brandy, who got eliminated. Brandy was so shocked she didn’t even congratulate Bristol! Brandy really wanted that spot; in face earlier in the show, they had shown us a video tape of her saying how much she wants it, and that she “humbly” thinks she deserves it. Most people would agree with her, but Bristol beat her out anyway.

So whatever the reason: Tea Party Conspiracy, Brandy’s arrogance, Bristol getting all the teen votes, Bristol working her “butt off,” or Mark Ballas’ incredibly good teaching…the question remains: Can Bristol win DWTS season 11?
Maybe she will! Congratulations to the shy, unassuming teenager who didn't particularly ask to be thrust into the spotlight 2 years ago, who went through an accidental pregnancy in front of millions of people (many of whom didn't mind insulting her in any manner they found amusing), who didn't hide herself away in shame, and who tried, again, in front of all of us, to dance. How many of the people who snipe at her, are too big of a pussy to dance anywhere, including on crowded dance floor at a local club?

Yeah, I said "pussy." Does that make me a misogynist?

270 comments:

1 – 200 of 270   Newer›   Newest»
Anonymous said...

Cue shoutingthomas ...

Word verification: reffr. (As in, "Reffr Madness.")

MadisonMan said...

I hope these kids make their facebook visible to friends only.

bagoh20 said...

Meade, control that uppity woman of yours. The men are talkling DWTS.

Scott M said...

I had initially regretted "friending" my 17-year-old. Regardless that I did, I had been hammering him since he was 10 that one should never put anything on the internet that they don't mind their grandparents reading. Compared to what usually passes for teen-age fare, he's been a saint and I'm thankful for that.

AllenS said...

I think that The Althouse Woman just kicked a lot of people in the nuts.

master cylinder said...

She is the perfect winner for a show like that.
kudos Bristol, you made something of yourself after all.

garage mahal said...

Is Willow home-schooled?

AllenS said...

That's gay has been a phrase that's been around with young people for about 20 years.

Prosecutorial Indiscretion said...

<3 Althouse

Fred4Pres said...

Oh Baby Obama, STFU! That is how kids talk. Gay, faggot, whatever.

Nothing to brag about, but the anti Palin forces are obsessive.

Anonymous said...

Yet another Bigot-O-Mania post.

Ann, is there anything to life but Bigot-O-Mania?

When are you going to drop this shit?

"Daddy, it's not fair" is somewhat worn out.

Anonymous said...

Right on schedule!

Word verification: duccunes. (As in "A Confederacy of ...")

Anonymous said...

Sorry to extend this to two posts.

I know that Bigot-O-Mania is an automatic winner in blog posting. No doubt this edition of Bigot-O-Mania will extend to 300 comments.

And they'll be eminently predictable, and exactly the same as the 300 comments to your last Bigot-O-Mania posting.

There nothing left to mine here, Ann.

Can't you drop this shit?

Hoosier Daddy said...

I like Anti-Palin forces. Are they like the Contras and do they wear cool berets and stuff?

MadisonMan said...

To tar her as homophobic is like saying if you call someone an "idiot," you hate persons with Down Syndrome.

Very weak analogy IMO. There is little in the common usage or etymology of the word idiot to suggest it is unique to people with Down Syndrome. Faggot pretty clearly means someone who is gay, however.

Willow does suffer from the affliction common in facebook teens. I see it all the time on my kids' walls: An inability to write you're.

AllenS said...

Can't you drop this shit?

Best way for that to happen, would be for you to not visit this web site.

SteveR said...

I can't believe Bristol Palin has made it to the finals. No one I know voted for her.

MayBee said...

I've noticed lately that "Jesus Christ" is allowed as a curse on basic cable. People use it as a curse on Twitter, too. A lot of the people who say it aren't Christian.

I'm not sure what we are supposed to be outraged about anymore.

Palladian said...

I hate the word "homophobia". It's an incorrect pseudo-psychological evaluation of what is usually simple animus. "Anti-gay", while still not great, is a much better term than "homophobic".

And I don't think, in general, we should give children a pass when they use low-brow, crude and offensive language. Part of being an adult is correcting the errors of the young, thereby helping to create better, more civilized people and a better future. I don't think it's acceptable to call someone a "faggot", just as I don't think it's acceptable to call someone "nigger" or "nigga". My objection is not out of some desire to enforce political correctness upon language; What bothers me about such usage is that it sounds (as I mentioned previously) coarse, low-brow and unintelligent. And I believe that becoming numb to coarse, low-brow and unintelligent language leads to lazy and shallow thinking.

I'm actually most offended by her inability to use the correct possessive form of "you", but that's another story.

All that said, it's pretty pathetic to go rooting around a child's Facebook page to score political points. Let the child's parents deal with their daughter's foul mouth if they want, but everyone else should leave the kid alone.

Anonymous said...

My prediction:

The last 150 comments in this posting will feature two of our newer comments in this truly fascinating intellectual joust:

NEWBE_1: "You're just a fucking winger bigot!"

NEWBE_2: "You're just a moron. You can't back up any of this with facts."

NEWBE_1: "Can to!"

NEWBE_2: "Cannot."

NEWBE_1: "Can to!"

NEWBE_2: "Cannot."

Can't wait. Bigot-O-Mania is so intellectually fascinating.

Known Unknown said...

Quite the passionate defense there, Professor. Wish I could say the same, but sadly, Willow needs to think a little more before she types.

Maybe she's not a homophobe, but she certainly is an idiot.

themightypuck said...

This is retarded.

roesch-voltaire said...

Yes I agree that Bristol has guts to dance,but media exposure for this poor, shy girl has been well-rewarded with big bucks in the past so there is a running narrative at work. And at this point, I can no longer tell which side of the Palin media feast, pro or anti, puts out these stories. In any case, It seems they all serve to keep the brand on public display building momentum for 2012, which should make Palin supporters happy.

Anonymous said...

OK, folks, that's it for me on this one.

Go ahead.

Proceed in the knowledge that you are creating the sort of stifling boredom that could cause the universe to implode.

I'm not up to it. I prefer to pick the the globs of wax out of my ears.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
traditionalguy said...

Wow! Underneath Ann Althouse's calm legal reasoning Professor's personality there lurks a Momma Grizzlie, of the Wisconsin Grizzlies. (My definition of a Momma Grizzlie is a woman who will attack whoever attacks children). I am impressed. Defending children from attackers is so very traditional. I remember a scene in The Witness when Harrison Ford was hiding out among the Pennsylvania Amish. When in town some arrogant bully abused his friend, where upon Ford whooped his ass. The bystanders told Mr Lapp that they had never seen an Amish do anything like that before....and he explained to them that Ford was an Ohio Amish.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
former law student said...

the shy, unassuming teenager

Say what? Sny, unassuming girls seldom get the "hot, hunky" hockey stars like Levi Johnston.

But I would never use "gay" as a putdown. That would be so ghetto.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
AlphaLiberal said...

For crying out loud, TMZ is like People magazine. So now you're taking a celebrity web site's story and claiming that other people are responsible for it.

I don't care what a teenager wrote on her Facebook page. Don't give a shit.

But I do care about people making false allegations of an anti-Palin conspiracy and helping Sarah Palin makes herself into a martyr.

She wants to be a celebrity and this is how it goes for ALL celebrities.

As far as the right wingers getting behind the other Palin girl at DWTS. It's absurd, but, hey, whatever keeps them off the streets.

rhhardin said...

The rule is that too much of a pussy refers to cats not genitals, unless it's fear-based in which case it refers to genitals as metonymy for women via low German.

AlphaLiberal said...

Watch out for the Vast Anti-Palin Conspiracy.

rhhardin said...

Faggot means bassoon to me; and then sticks.

I don't know what they print on school orchestra scores these days, though.

Unknown said...

And there is ample evidence that Bristol Palin is homophobic. After all, she was raised by raging homophobic parents.

FACT: Sarah and Todd Palin think that gays are unfit to serve in the military.

FACT: Sarah and Todd Palin oppose any attempts to stop gay students from being bullied in schools. Even if those steps are simply by the local school board, or individual teachers.

FACT: Sarah and Todd Palin are strong believers in reparative therapy for gays (i.e. forcefully trying to convert gay people to become straight). In fact, they belonged to a church that had active reparative therapy sessions within that church.

FACT: Sarah and Todd Palin think that being gay should be punishable by imprisonment.

FACT: Sarah and Todd Palin are Christians - thereby there are homophobic BY DEFINITION. All Christians are homophobes.

Gee - Can't fathom why Palin's daughter would call people faggots.

AllenS said...

Momma Knuckledragger, now that's my kind of woman.

traditionalguy said...

Roeschi...You imply that the shame of the Palins is that they get paid to be celebrities that make money for producers of shows. Does that mean that we should envy them? Or do you imply that they should spend their inherited fortunes and their accumulated political graft wealth first? What if they have none but what their work is worth? How very common of them. The next thing you know, a Palin Presidency will treat us all like they are.

dbp said...

DTL's video link:

"Video: Teabaggers Heckle 'Faggot' Barney Frank at U.S. Capitol"

Good way to claim the higher moral ground there lad.

bagoh20 said...

I hear gays use the term "gay" as a put down of straights all the time. My stepdaughter - who is gay - often uses it to put me down when I do something stupid with a feminine twist like discussing DWTS.

It used to be done a lot more, but recently with all the "don't say gay" movement in our culture it has dropped off, but it was never particularly insulting to use it or in the past for easy going people without a stick up their ass, so to speak.

Lately there is a lot of education going on in the art of being insulted. There should be degree offered.

AlphaLiberal said...

DTL, no doubt that the Palin parents are homophobes who spread hatred against gays and lesbians.

Have they taught their children to hate as well? I'd be surprised if they didn't.

Hey, are you going to your chapter meeting of the Vast Anti-Palin Conspiracy tonight? We have to oppress Sarah Palin some more by saying critical things about her.

No-one has ever been oppressed so much as the tweeting multi-millionaire Sarah Palin. Ever.

jnseward said...

Good for you, Ann.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
bagoh20 said...

DTL, I assume that you're use of the term "fact" means that you are psychic or at least know the Palins personally. If not, then your comment is totally gay.

ricpic said...

Part of being an adult is correcting the errors of the young...

But is it an error to instinctively know, as kids do, that gayness isn't as all fired wonderful as the adults insist it is and insist on THE CORRECT ATTITUDE OR ELSE?!

MadisonMan said...

Maybe she's not a homophobe, but she certainly is an idiot.

That's too harsh, I'd say she's a teen.

test said...

downtownlad:

You should reconsider your use of the term "fact". It doesn't mean what you think it means.

AlphaLiberal said...

By the way, just to inject some reality in this weird conversation....

The "anti-Palin forces" include the vast majority of the American people. Her unfavorability ratings are at an all-time high.

At 52%, Palin's Unfavorable Score Hits a New High

She is so oppressed! Waaaa!

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

They're just rationalizing and justifying all this garbage pejorative talk as a way of coming to terms with the fact that they're a bunch of boring crackers, with less passion, virtue, depth and true entertainment value than Vanilla Ice.

Surely, all the gay bullying and spate of recent suicides had nothing to do with the "common and casual speech" that scarcely looks askance at pejorative uses of "gay" and "faggot". Surely if something is "common and casual", like say - oh I don't know attitudes toward Jews in 1930s Germany or toward blacks in America prior to civil rights, then that is a good, decent and wholly defensible attitude to affirm. No need to see anything here, Mr. Johnson. Step off, colleagues of Albert Einstein. Let's move right along. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.

Ann's kids must be as warped and numb to the ways of the world as she is to put up with such baloney (or at least pretends to be).

I've heard some lawyers tell some whoppers, but to pretend that pejorative insults - casually spread around, no less - don't spread animus of whomever you're grouping in with your insults is the biggest load of crap I've ever heard. If she wanted to insult the guy on a basis that had nothing to do with sexual orientation, she could have chosen just such an insult. As dumb as this Palin (and every one of them) is, I suspect she has the talent for at least that. Or maybe she even lacks that. Whadaya think, Self-Induced Vortexians?

AllenS said...

Tell us something about your life, AlphaLiberal. Married? Children? Do you work? May I ask where? Have you taught your children to hate as well? Does your husband make wild acqusations about other people often?

bagoh20 said...

""No-one has ever been oppressed so much as the tweeting multi-millionaire Sarah Palin. Ever."

Oppressors always lose in the end. Doesn't mean they didn't try.

ricpic said...

It's the bitter clinging boring crackers against the uber smug shits!

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

EXTERNALITIES ARE A LIE!!!

jungatheart said...

For the first time I watched a clip of Bristol dancing. The one where the over dress gets ripped off. She's great for a rookie. Lacks fluidity. Was she better than Brandy, 'cause I didn't see Brandy's routine.

Piper in '48!

AlphaLiberal said...

On second thought, you know Sarah Palin, unlike many but not all celebrities, has really thrust her children into the public spotlight.

She is always dragging her kids into public debates and her spats.

So, I guess if someone wants to criticize the very clear evidence of her poor morals and her terrible parenting, the kids are probably fair game.

Palin chose to put them out there, after all.

Not my thing, though. The focus should remain on the former half-term (failed) Governor.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

It's the bitter clinging boring crackers against the uber smug shits!

Funny that you can't come up with anything better than "shits", rip, especially when their rivals, bitter and clinging as they are, could therefore be described as "dingleberries". ;-)

traditionalguy said...

DTL...What if all of your "facts" are wrong, or misrepresented? Palin is smart enough not to fight gay people's rights...unlike a certain undercover Muslim President with Congress also controlled by his party. The Christians I associate with never attack gays and are very loving towards them. Gays are not freaks, like you imply, and they know where acceptance is found and where it is not found much better than your political diatribe admits.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Dingleberries, clinging to the asshole of society. So bitter about being shat out so unceremoniously, so ungraciously.

Smell the entitlement. How much they miss having it.

bagoh20 said...

"Her unfavorability ratings are at an all-time high.

And Obama's favorable currently matches Bush's. But Obama is only the President coveting her power.

AlphaLiberal said...

AllenS, it's weird how you keep asking me about my personal life. You have no right to the information nor use for it.

And, I'm not the tweeting multi-millionaire putting my kids and personal life in front of the cameras. Actually, I'm kind of private.

But, hey, if you are so into invading other peoples' privacy, I hear the TSA is hiring some airport screeners.

garage mahal said...

Ann's favorite radio show talk host can photoshop the president on Mt Rushmore with gang graffiti on his website calling him a juvenile delinquent gang member, what makes you think she wouldn't defend someone calling someone else a faggot?

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

BTW, even though I disagree with him and believe Palladian's intentionally downplaying Willow's verbiage (and I agree that it isn't always a problem, just as it isn't exactly a bit innocent nothing either - there are more than two extreme sides to a position), his new avatar's pretty cool.

Scott M said...

That's too harsh, I'd say she's a teen.

"What's wrong with smoking? Teen-agers all smoke, and they seem pretty on-the-ball."

AllenS said...

Why not? You seem to think that it's ok for you to put your nose into everybody elses personal life. Act like you've got a pair.

quilbill said...

The politically-correct spelling of "gay," when used to describe something lame, is "ghey."

For example, "DTL is gay and like totally ghey. I mean like totally douchebag ghey."

Brian said...

I was going to post something about Alpha declaring Willow being the intellectual force of the Palin family, showing once and for all that the Palins want to send gays to re-education re-programming camps. And I assumed it would be over-the-top hyperbole.

DTL beat him to it, but Alpha chimed in. And they are serious.

AlphaLiberal said...

DTL said:

All Christians are homophobes.

Yeah, that one is wrong. There are way too Christians spewing hatred based on line in the very odd Book of Leviticus.

But please do not let the haters and false prophets who so abuse the faith to color everyone else.

There are plenty of other Christians who treat Christianity as a religion of love, not hatred, and support equal rights for all people regardless of orientation.

I'm sorry for the pain inflicted by the haters.

Freeman Hunt said...

Yes, I think it is important point out that "gay" and "faggot" are used casually by teenagers to insult people who are not actually gay. Even when I was in high school, to use those words was normal unless they were directed toward an actually gay person. In that case, to use those words was considered hateful and low class.

Jim said...

Sarah and Todd Palin are strong believers in reparative therapy for gays (i.e. forcefully trying to convert gay people to become straight).

Reparative therapy is NOT "forcefully trying to convert gay people to become straight."

Show me the element of force. You can't.

The FACT is that at least some significant portion of the homosexual population has adopted that lifestyle in reaction to sexual abuse they were victimized by as children. Or as reaction to an overbearing or emotional abusive parent of the opposite gender. Or as a result of abusive/traumatic romantic relationships.

All of these experiences can understandably lead someone to be incapable of forming a truly loving relationship with a person of the opposite gender.

For at least some, homosexuality isn't a matter of biology but rather a coping mechanism to deal with past trauma. Whether it be through their faith or with a psychological professional, there needs to be a mechanism whereby a person can deal with that past trauma and examine the life choices they've made in response to that trauma.

The complete REFUSAL of the larger homosexual community to accept the proper place of reparative therapy is a tragedy for those individuals which condemns them to a life of unresolved pain. That's not tolerant. It's the tyranny of an identity group.

Why is it that it is perfectly acceptable for a heterosexual person to decide that they are actually gay, but if someone decides that the opposite is true then the LGBT community condemns them? Why is tolerance only a one-way street?

AlphaLiberal said...

Brian:

Alpha declaring Willow being the intellectual force of the Palin family

I said no such thing. Nothing like it.

Brian = Liar.

You know the words you're referring to are right here on this page, right?

Honestly, I don't understand why conservatives lie so often. They seem to prefer mendacity.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Ann's favorite radio show talk host can photoshop the president on Mt Rushmore with gang graffiti on his website calling him a juvenile delinquent gang member, what makes you think she wouldn't defend someone calling someone else a faggot?

Because they believe that something can only be offensive if it affects you and people who know personally. Everyone else might as well not exist. Their humanity certainly doesn't - at least according to the accounts told here.

"Just get over it, Barack. What are you, a wimp? Why can't I find every which way under the sun to insult you and black youth in general without you getting all up in arms about it? Did you actually expect me to win on substance?"

Lather, rinse, repeat.

X said...

Faggot pretty clearly means someone who is gay, however.


or firewood, or a British cigarette, or a native of Kansas City

Anthony said...

Professor, why is calling someone a faggot not an expression of "antagonism towards gay people"? It isn't homophobia unless accompanied by proof that someone hates gay people? Is calling someone a nigger only an antagonism towards black people if someone has announced themselves as a racist or treated someone unfairly on the basis of race? Do we give young people a pass on using these words because--as you noted--the language is commonly used and therefore all of these people cannot anti-gay?

Additionally, the word faggot may not have the same effect on the ears of non-gay people as the word nigger does for non-black people, but to the people it targets, it sounds exactly the same. People should be aware of that, even 16 year olds.

holdfast said...

FWIW, teenagers often describe something as "gay" when they just mean lame or not cool. Calling someone the other F word is a LOT harsher. Maybe the intent is not to be homophobic, but among dudes at least, those would be fighting words (as in I'll see you out by the bike rack after final bell). Of course, the reason that it is such a serious slur is the genuine fear among teenaged males of what could happen to them if they let the insult stand, and thereby tacitly accept the description. Which of course is the product of actual homophobia. Is it homophobia to be afraid of being called or thought to be gay, even if you yourself have nothing against gay people?

What kind of a creep trolls a 16 year old girl's facebook page?

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Even when I was in high school, to use those words was normal unless they were directed toward an actually gay person. In that case, to use those words was considered hateful and low class.

There goes the conservative argument against "special" treatment. A big sucking sound, as Ross Perot would have said.

Freeman Hunt said...

Is Willow home-schooled?

No. Government schools all the way, I believe.

I also agree with Palladian that part of an adult's job is to say, "Do better," when it comes to language like this.

Lisa said...

I agree with you ont he misuse of gay and faggot. But it wouldn't stop me from raising a stink if one of my kids or students used the word like that.

But that's how they learn

Metamorf said...

Just wanted to say, before we get to 311 comments or whatever, nice post, Ann -- thanks.

traditionalguy said...

A thought about the popularity polls on Palin today is that she is running first against her hardest hurdle which is support out there for each of the seven dwarves also seeking the GOP nomination and all actively putting her down because she is everyone's #1 that must be knocked out to open the way for the seven dwarves. That is why Rove is spinning like a dervish that Sarah is "polarizing"...and that to win the GOP must find a consensus candidate that can heal the party's division among support for seven candidates...Voila, another Bush suddenly emerges. Than whoever cops the nomination will move into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as the Amazing Mr Obama finally leaves us.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

To call a Christian or Muslim a "kike" should really be no big deal. I have no idea what would be meant by it. But hey, no proper context, no insult. No harm, no foul.

To call an Anglo a "spic" should really be no big deal. I have no idea what would be meant by it. But hey, lack of proper context changes everything, right? No harm, no foul.

Satire over. Please help me better understand this conservative longing to preserve pejorative insults by directing them only at the people to whom they don't apply. It's bizarre, regardless of perceived innocence.

AlphaLiberal said...

Every time I come here, I am reminded how modern American conservatives have the mentality and temperament of teenagers.

You engage in schoolyard name-calling without hesitating.

You excuse hatred and bullying and lying.

You think you have the right to put down and, really, oppress homosexual Americans because you are, at your core, a bunch of bullies.

We need to have equality in this country for all people and not consign gays and lesbians to second class status.

But it's politically convenient for the conservative movement to attack gays and lesbians. And they are teaching the children to do the same - spreading their ignorant hatred.

The Palin children voice the values their parents have taught them. Hatred.

Freeman Hunt said...

There goes the conservative argument against "special" treatment. A big sucking sound, as Ross Perot would have said.

No, it's just simple social interaction. The same as the way a guy might call his fit friend a "fat slob," but it would be rude and mean to call his fat friend the same.

tree hugging sister said...

Don't watch the show.

It must be hard to be so young and have the world crawling up your ass at every turn, so that every stupid thing you'd do as a normal gnarly pre-teen/teenager gets turned into celebrity fodder, instead of allowing you to slink quietly away after a chewing out at dinner.

That would suck. Especially since there's no end in sight. No expiration date attched.

And I've always hated the P-word. Never, EVER used it, even in long, imaginative strings of invective thrown at my fellow Marines concerning whatever disaster might have befallen our plans for an early departure from the flightline that evening. And they knew not to use it around me.

One of those strange things.

Jim said...

Did you actually expect me to win on substance?

You must mean winning on substance the way that Leftists do by defecating over every Christian. Or non-urban dweller. Or any member of any non-explicitly Liberal group.

Like by calling conservative blacks "Uncle Toms."

Like by calling conservative gays "self-hating."

Like by calling conservative Jews "neo-cons."

Should I keep going, or are you done calling the kettle black?

Lincolntf said...

Call a woman a "whore" and the Democrats will elevate you to the Governorship of California.
Your teenage daughter calls some punk a "fag" on the Internet and the Dems see "phobics" everywhere.
The Libs are stuck with Willow Palin and the Chamber of Commerce as the last remaining windmills to tilt at. Gotta love it.

wv: lehed

A toilet in the French Navy?

AlphaLiberal said...

Anthonoy asks good questions:
Professor, why is calling someone a faggot not an expression of "antagonism towards gay people"?

Or how about calling a woman a "dumb broad" or "dippy chick?"

Why is Ann Althouse making excuses for derogatory language?

Conservatism = ugly

The Crack Emcee said...

Haha your so gay. I have no idea who you are, But what I've seen pictures of, your disgusting ... My sister had a kid and is still hot. Tre stfu. You such a f*ggot. I'm sticking up for my family. You're running your mouth just to talk sh*t.

This, needless to say, is you-know-what.

AlphaLiberal said...

Lincolntf:

Call a woman a "whore" and the Democrats will elevate you to the Governorship of California.

Bullshit. Every election season, thousands of candidates, male and female, are called "whore" in private campaign meetings.

Freeman Hunt said...

Big Gov't, that doesn't work. "Gay" has more than one meaning in popular usage.

Anonymous said...

"No-one has ever been oppressed so much as the tweeting multi-millionaire Sarah Palin. Ever."

That Sarah has managed to parlay the obsessive hatred of her by the Lords of Tolerance (the left) into millions must be such a source of frustration to you "progressives".

Not only does she use you to make lots of money (along with media exposure and influence), but she then uses that $/influence to support causes which make the left's collective heads explode (thus releasing into the atmosphere excessive amounts of greenhouse gases and dryer lint).

So you "progressives" obsess on her more, which she then uses to increase her profile/income. So you insist she's stupid. Which lets everyone know you're losing and when a lefty is losing the argument, he/she/it launches the "stupid", "racist", "homophobe" name-calling thing.

And worst of all -- to the perpetually aggrieved, outraged, and sour left -- she does it with a smile. She's laughing at you and it makes you so vewy, vewy, angwy.

I enjoy this.

Jim said...

Why is Ann Althouse making excuses for derogatory language?

The same reason you made excuses for the leaders of your party calling their political opponents "Nazis."

Or is calling someone a genocidal murderer because you disagree with their politics NOT derogatory in your book?

In which case, you are obviously a Nazi. Have a nice day.

traditionalguy said...

Alpha...The badly orchestrated Palin slanders by media hacks hoping to get themselves some of Tina Fey's awards will be forgotten on the day that it stops. Palin's real nemesis is the GOP machine that she has beaten time and again. Why not help her beat them this time?

Anonymous said...

Now that we have achieved hyper boredom, here is something that is actually interesting:

A navigable 360 degree photo of London.

http://www.360cities.net/london-photo-en.html

Go take a look at it before this discussion drives you to putting a bullet in your head.

Jim said...

Bullshit. Every election season, thousands of candidates, male and female, are called "whore" in private campaign meetings.

So you defend calling her a whore because it suits your politics.

Which makes you a misogynist according to your own definition.

How's the view from on top of your own petard, Nazi?

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

No, it's just simple social interaction. The same as the way a guy might call his fit friend a "fat slob," but it would be rude and mean to call his fat friend the same.

So irony justifies everything and absolves anyone of anything. I see. Externalities resulting from such casual usage be damned.

And where is the evidence that the object of Willow's derision was as straight as an arrow?

BTW, I wasn't aware that "fat slob", properly applied, was any less insulting than "faggot", properly applied, but I'm just going by your logic here.

jungatheart said...

Lincolntf:
"Call a woman a "whore" and the Democrats will elevate you to the Governorship of California.
Your teenage daughter calls some punk a "fag" on the Internet and the Dems see "phobics" everywhere."

Yes, compare that to Palin being hung in effigy by a gay couple in California during the campaign. It stayed up quite a while. If it had been an effigy of Obama all hell would have broke loose.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

"Gay" has more than one meaning in popular usage.

Such as?

Face it. The word just became an all-purpose insult among kids for anything lame at all - which is a pretty damn wide category. The fact that they derived such a broad term from casually insulting the masculinity of homosexuals is, I'm sure, not lost on them - even if it is on others.

holdfast said...

AlphaLibel must be IMAX because he is the biggest projector I've ever seen.


LOL, the quasi-closeted Anderson Cooper Deep60 routinely deploying a gay slur against millions of his "fellow" Americans.

Better to be a TeabaggER then a TeabagEE - right Alpha? Oh sorry, can't talk with your mouth full?

Fen said...

That Sarah has managed to parlay the obsessive hatred of her by the Lords of Tolerance (the left) into millions must be such a source of frustration to you "progressives".

Yup, Jeralyn over at TalkLeft is having a meltdown.

DaveW said...

I follow a few of the Texans' football players on twitter. The other day one of them tweeted "morning my twiggas!". That's pretty offensive to someone of my generation, but maybe if people are getting to the point where it isn't that big a deal that's a good thing.

Upthread someone is complaining that the analogy of idiot to downs isn't equivalent because faggot is more closely associated with being gay. Snort.

The professor says a proper definition of homophobic is feeling antagonism towards gay people. A phobia is a fear, not antagonism.

When you play this game with language you reap what you sow. I'd prefer we stick with what words actually mean. A faggot is a piece of wood or a cigarette. I can actually remember when being gay had a meaning completely unrelated to sexuality.

MayBee is unsure what she's supposed to feel offended over and no wonder. We need to get daily memos from someone to keep us up to date with not only what is offensive but also what the currently accepted definitions are.

Whatever the case, no amount of correction from parents or anyone else is going to keep school kids from taunting each other with playground insults.

Tank said...

st was right about this discussion.

LOL.

Half the people in this country spend all day every day looking for a way to be offended.

Fen said...

Libtard: I've heard some lawyers tell some whoppers, but to pretend that pejorative insults - casually spread around, no less - don't spread animus of whomever you're grouping in with your insults is the biggest load of crap I've ever heard.

This. From a sockpuppet that had to change his handle after calling us all racist teabagging rednecks.

Irony should be lethal.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

For at least some, homosexuality isn't a matter of biology but rather a coping mechanism to deal with past trauma. Whether it be through their faith or with a psychological professional, there needs to be a mechanism whereby a person can deal with that past trauma and examine the life choices they've made in response to that trauma.

The complete REFUSAL of the larger homosexual community to accept the proper place of reparative therapy is a tragedy for those individuals which condemns them to a life of unresolved pain. That's not tolerant. It's the tyranny of an identity group.


Or so says Jim, at 10:11.

What say you, Professor Althouse?

Just an example of the found irony that exists here. Carry on.

Automatic_Wing said...

Big Govt guy: Stop using pejorative insults, you cracker dingleberries! Don't you know that unkind words are hurtful?

You can dispense with the feigned moral indignation, we all know it's all about whose ox is being gored. If the cause of progressivism can furthered by calling someone a faggot tomorrow, you won't hesitate to go there.

madAsHell said...

I can't believe Bristol Palin made it to the finals.

NO ONE I KNOW IS WATCHING THIS TRIPE!

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

From a sockpuppet that had to change his handle after calling us all racist teabagging rednecks.

Exactly. I had no choice in the matter. It was practically forced upon me. No independent decision there. It wasn't for my own fun. Maintaining a good reputation with a guy as obscure as Fen is what it's all about. I live for that and nothing else.

Seeing as how you've suddenly decreed yourself lord and master over me, can you let me in on your life a litter more? Like, what TV shows do you watch? Tell us all more about this cryptic one-syllable, three-letter name you hide behind, if it pleases you.

Anonymous said...

FACT: Sarah and Todd Palin think that being gay should be punishable by imprisonment.


Hysterical!

I love the fact that this woman can drive you ignorants into such a frenzy.

Love it!

Scott M said...

The pool has started for the ending number of comments in this thread. 1st prize is next year's federal budget deficit. Must be within +/- 5. 300 is already taken. You get a bonus +/- 10 margin if you correctly predict Christians and nazis will be equated and by which commenter.

Fen said...

Libtard: Maintaining a good reputation with a guy as obscure as Fen is what it's all about.

Apaprently so, else why change your name every time you run through your credibility here?

Chip Ahoy said...

Another web site I visit has a rowdy comment section. Once a new member popped up and asked a rather straightforward question but one that indicated he hadn't read the site's FAQ. The natural reaction of the regulars was to give him the piss. With no satisfactory answer the new member abruptly left in a huff but not without first condemning the whole site all at once with "You're all gay." We laughed so hard we couldn't type. That was a year ago and it still cracks us all up. Now the regulars say it to each other whenever they're pushed to a corner, and we all re-live that precious moment. In fact, I think the phrase has become something of an internet meme.

dbp said...

AlphaLiberal said...

Why is Ann Althouse making excuses for derogatory language?

Conservatism = ugly


Why does AlphaLiberal think it is okay for him to use derogatory language while accusing others of defending the same? It boggles the mind.

Lincolntf said...

FACT: Barack and Michelle believe all non-Socialists should be imprisoned.

Hell, it's a lot closer to the truth than the Palin thing.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

You can dispense with the feigned moral indignation, we all know it's all about whose ox is being gored. If the cause of progressivism can furthered by calling someone a faggot tomorrow, you won't hesitate to go there.

Moral indignation isn't so much the point - although I'm surprised at how disconnected people assume all this is to other problems, such as the phenomenon of gay suicide, etc.

I've put out some decent arguments for how nonsensical it is to use an insult only in irony (and how do we know the kid wasn't gay in the first place), while assuming that the insult doesn't stay insulting to the proper audience. Freeman talked of "fat slobs". Does use of that term, even if applied ironically, make being a "fat slob" any less negative a thing? And how does a gay man avoid being a "faggot", btw? Where exactly is that line?

You guys are just not making sense. And Ann's post was a whopper. Face it or fight the charges.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Fen doesn't believe what he says. It's just like Pogo's game of fetch, although in a more Hannibal Lecter-Multiple Miggs style.

But since he doesn't believe what he says and just says things to occupy the thread, I think that means he's a fraud, by his own definition.

Come on, Fen. Try to be genuine.

Jason said...

And so the hysterical gays are validating all the stereotypes about them.

A 16 year old kid uses a stock schoolyard taunt that's been in casual usage for generations - almost never referring to actual gay people - and they think it's all about them, and start shreiking like Albin from La Cage Aux Folles, and pointing their finger at a child.

No, we're not going to put the lotion in the fucking basket!

What a bunch of panty-sniffing drama queens.

Original Mike said...

Personally, I watched the Nova on Stonehenge last night.

Anonymous said...

The "anti-Palin forces" include the vast majority of the American people. Her unfavorability ratings are at an all-time high.


So are Obama's.

You have no point, clown.

Roger J. said...

second Palladian's comment

Pastafarian said...

Big Ritzy said: "Face it. The word just became an all-purpose insult among kids for anything lame at all..."

Lame? Are you insulting the physically less-abled?

Why do you hate paraplegics, Big Ritzy?

But seriously: Palladian at 9:32 said everything that I wanted to say. I find the use of this term disturbing and disappointing, but maybe that's part of the reason that teens do it -- rebellion.

Equally disturbing: Intentional spelling and grammatical mistakes. I mean, they go out of their way to intentionally misspell words that they know how to spell. I'm not sure what they're trying to portray themselves as -- ghetto-cool?

If that's it, then it's really condescending and somewhat racist. And it's the sort of thing that I thought we'd have less of, after the coronation of President Erkel.

Fen said...

Libtard: Fen doesn't believe what he says

[yawn]

chuck b. said...

I caught a little DWTS on the treadmill this week and I was thinking, "This show is all about observing fine male ass," because from what I could tell that seemed like the best reason to watch it.

garage mahal said...

Personally, I watched the Nova on Stonehenge last night.

Me too. Nerd.

Lincolntf said...

Big Gov, you have absolutely zero problems with Jerry Brown calling a woman in her fifties a whore, but expect outrage over a teen using playground taunts on her Facebook page?
Do you still wonder why Lefties always end up as laughingstocks on these threads?

Anonymous said...

FACT: Sarah and Todd Palin are Christians - thereby there are homophobic BY DEFINITION. All Christians are homophobes.


FACT: Being gay is immoral, abnormal, and unhealthy.

Yet people like you encourage such behaviors.

The question is: why?

former law student said...

The complete REFUSAL of the larger homosexual community to accept the proper place of reparative therapy is a tragedy for those individuals which condemns them to a life of unresolved pain. That's not tolerant. It's the tyranny of an identity group.


Is gay something you do or something you are? Achmadinejad also rejected homosexuality as something a person could build an identity around.

I never met anyone who said they started out straight but became gay, or vice versa.

Original Mike said...

Why, thank you, garage.

Pastafarian said...

ScottM: Put me down for 274.

Brian said...

Brian = Liar.

Hey, I said my comment would be obvious over-the-top hyperbolae. The amazing thing is, yours isn't. It has no perspective at all.

It's one thing to take what Sarah Palin posts (like "Death Panels") and run with it. It's another thing to take what Willow wrote as insight into the entire Palin family, and what they would do.

Palin puts her family on TV, so it's fair game to critique what her daughter said and did, but to turn it into a conspiracy against gays is way overboard. I just said DTL beat you to it.

Anonymous said...

Here are the gays in action:

Police say they logged numerous complaints of straight people being called “breeders” by gays over the July Fourth holiday weekend. Jamaican workers reported being the target of racial slurs. And a woman was verbally accosted after signing a petition that opposed same-sex marriage, they said.

The town, which prizes its reputation for openness and tolerance, is taking the concerns seriously, though police say they do not consider the incidents hate crimes. . . .



Cue up the indignancy downtownlad!

Trooper York said...

Isn't it interesting that Bristol is winning a popularity contest when the Palin's are so unpopular?

former law student said...

Jerry Brown calling a woman in her fifties a whore

Jerry Brown never called anyone anything. One of his associates used the W-word, to describe Meg Whitman's selling out her principles (deficit reduction via pension reform) to obtain a police group endorsement. It's a fairly common metaphor.

Anonymous said...

You excuse hatred and bullying and lying.


I love the outrage alphagoofball!

Please, get fired up!

Show is the indignancy!

Hey, where were you when leftists were wishing death on Limbaugh, Bush & Cheney?

You were talking about hate and such, right?

Oh, you were utterly silent.

Nevermind.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Lincolntf:

"Whore" has a literal definition that most women can easily prove they don't fit.

"Faggot" has no literal definition that gay men can therefore prove themselves as not fitting. Its ambiguity makes it just broad enough to use on anything. But everyone knows the most direct definition: Gay generally. Not a certain type of gay person who does disreputable things that other gays avoid doing.

Is this really how bad it gets in the mornings? You guys need some coffee.

Trooper York said...

I don't watch DWTS. I prefer "Sons of Anarchy" on FX. They had about six murders and stuff. The tortured an IRA guy by pulling out his teeth with a pair of pilers.

I went to send a tape to the CIA so they use those enhanced interrogation technigues on some of those terrorist guys.

Jason said...

I wonder of Andrew Sullivan has a fake teen facebook page he's using to get at the Palins?

Scott M said...

Personally, I watched the Nova on Stonehenge last night.

Same here, in between flipping back and forth to the apparent Tosh.0 marathon CC had running last night. Every time I go for a while without watching Tosh, I'm reminded just how funny that guy really is.

William said...

On the plus side, Bristol's victory on DWTS was affirmative action for the Palins. On the negative side, there is this brouhaha. There are perks. such as Bristol's victory, that come with being a Palin, but on the down side, they have forever lost their right to pick their nose in public.

dbp said...

Jeeze Mr. Big Gov't Trickling Down on You, what is the point of changing your name if you don't also change your picture?

Regular readers would still figure it out after reading three sentences, but with the same picture we figure it out without (having to go to the bother of) reading anything.

Anonymous said...

OOPS!

During last month’s Right Nation gathering just outside of Chicago, Andrew Breitbart found himself confronting a group of angry protesters who had been bussed in by the Democratic Party. Full coverage of that epic protest failure can be found here.

At one point a protester wearing an orange rain parka can be heard casting what she seemed to think was a homophobic aspersion about Breitbart, exclaiming, “I think he’s gay!”


I mean, why are Democrats using "gay" in a deragotory way?

Fen said...

NO ONE I KNOW IS WATCHING THIS TRIPE!

Same. But I will now, and will phone in my votes for Bristol... just to piss off the Libtads.

Who knows, maybe a few more will off themselves.

Trooper York said...

Then I caught an episode of "The Good Wife" just to see if in the entire episode one of Juliana Margulies eyebrows moved.

Didn't happen.

Brian said...

I never met anyone who said they started out straight but became gay, or vice versa.

You obviously never met Meredith Baxter from "Family Ties." She said she didn't figure out she was gay until her 1st same-sex relationship in 2002, at the age of 55.

So was she straight before? If you had asked her when she was Meredith Baxter Birney, would she have said she was straight then?

If it's so obviously one way or another, wouldn't everyone know from the start?

Jim said...

Is gay something you do or something you are? Achmadinejad also rejected homosexuality as something a person could build an identity around.

I never met anyone who said they started out straight but became gay, or vice versa.


1) We already covered your limited world experience previously in another thread when you said the exact same thing and were cited multiple celebrities who have said that EXACT same thing. Or you insistant on maintaining your Kaelian ignorance even in the face of facts which prove your provinciality?

2) The gratuitous comparison to Achmedinijad is duly noted. Feel free to call me a Nazi next. When you're losing an argument badly, it does seem to be your steady go-to and only serves to show that even YOU recognize when you've already lost as well.

Lincolntf said...

FLS, I heard the recording. It's hard to tell who says what. After failing to convince people that it was his wife, they never did say who it was. But it is definitely Jerry who says something like "I should use that!". He at the very least endorses calling her a whore.
Which to you is somehow less offensive than Sarah Palin's 16- year old daughter using a potty mouth on Facebook.

Trooper York said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I never met anyone who said they started out straight but became gay, or vice versa.


Your myopia is comical.

Hey, wasn't that "I am a gay American" governor of New Jersey, married?

Are you really this ignorant?

Really?

MadisonMan said...

ScottM: Put me down for 274.

If the number of posts gets to 255, and then you post 19 times, do you still win? :)

Anonymous said...

Is gay something you do or something you are?

It is something you do.

Trooper York said...

As a palate cleanser, I caught two reruns that I had taped on my DVR.

In one Samatha turned Darren's horny client (Jack Warden) into a dog when he tried to hit on her at a party.

Then I caught one where Major Nelson's mom showed up at Cape Canveral and Jeanie was all pissed off and stuff.

That was when we had real TV shows that showed the American we all want to live in.

Super hot women who were subserviant to their men. Just sayn'

amba said...

Isn't Bristol's success, carried past and over the supercilious judges on the shoulders of The People, at the very least a metaphor?

Big Mike said...

I just wish Chelsea Clinton had received a tiny fraction of the hostile scrutiny that the Palin girls have had dished out to them.

Scott M said...

If the number of posts gets to 255, and then you post 19 times, do you still win? :)

No. Why? "Ve haff vays..."

Trooper York said...

It's not a metaphor. It's a techinque.

John said...

The kids on South Park say "that is gay" or "that is Liberace gay" like 20 times an episode. "Gay" has taken it own life as a word. Everyone knows that. What the hell is wrong with people?

Too many jims said...

Do decent people read a 16-year-old girl's Facebook page?
and
holdfast said...
What kind of a creep trolls a 16 year old girl's facebook page?


Just to be clear, he wrote something on HIS page. She then went to his page and called him the names.

DADvocate said...

But we've read it, so let's at least be decent enough to be fair to teenagers. It's common and casual speech to use the words "gay" and "faggot" like that.

Quite true. I check out my kids' Facebook pages and see that sort of stuff all the time. My kids use it less than most, but still some, because we have gay relatives of whom they are very fond.

This sort of thing is up there with the loser Hillary Clinton finding a kindergarten reference where Obama supposedly said he wanted to be president, loser Jack Conway bringing up Aqua Bhudda and now this loser trashing a teenager to get at Sarah Palin.

Trying to show Willow to be a hater, Aliyah Shahid shows how deep his/her hate goes.

Yeah, friends only is a good Facebook policy. It's required in my house.

Scott M said...

The kids on South Park say "that is gay" or "that is Liberace gay" like 20 times an episode. "Gay" has taken it own life as a word. Everyone knows that. What the hell is wrong with people?

When do you suppose this happened...recently? No way. It was being used exactly the same way when I was in grade school lo those many years ago (circa 1980-ish) in exactly the same context.

amba said...

If cuss words were to be taken literally, 90% of Russia and Eastern Europe would long since have either had intercourse with their mothers (not to mention God's mother), or gone back into their vajayjays from whence they came.

wv: gascars

How nostalgic!!

amba said...

Like "gaslight"!

Trooper York said...

I joined Facebook recently just to look at the Facebook pages of the people who applied for a job at the store.

That is the new normal in hiring.

MayBee said...

Gay already had a different meaning, no? We're several iterations in by now. Do you get to change the meaning of a word and then be offended when someone tries to use it in yet another way-- one that you don't like?

traditionalguy said...

The dancing on national TV would be hard for a new dance student. That Bristol has done so well should have us asking if she is a dance expert hustling the bets. In my learning days, the time before a dance motion seemed natural was worse than learning the golf swing. Six months is a minimum to develop a real muscle memory in any new activity. Does anyone remember trying batting or dribbling with their left hands....how long did that take you to learn a poor imitation of your right handed skills?

MayBee said...

Sarah Palin should write a book to her kids, asking them if she's ever told them how wonderful they are.

Scott M said...

Do you get to change the meaning of a word and then be offended when someone tries to use it in yet another way-- one that you don't like?

Where have you been on the whole N-Word thing?

Fernandinande said...

To tar her as homophobic is like saying if you call someone an "idiot," you hate persons with Down Syndrome.

People use gay, idiot, creep, pussy, etc as insults because nobody wants to be those things, not because anyone is afraid of them or hates them. The left pretends otherwise, but the pretense has always been pretty obvious.

Ann Althouse said...

@Downtownlad I will give you one hour to find the URL for one post of mine where I defend calling Barney Frank "faggot." Eh. No, I won't. It's a lie. I never did it and you know it. I'm deleting every comment of yours that contains that lie. You can repost your accusation if you provide the link and quote of mine that supports your position. I know it will be impossible. Consider apologizing.

John said...

I love how Alpha Liberal and Garage, who seems to be suffering from serious post election PTSD, are convinced that because Pailin is for DADT, her daughter must be a bigot by implication. Of course the fact that Obama chose to attend a racist black church and was close confident with a former left wing terrorist could never be inferred to mean Obama is anything but mainstream America.

You guys really are pathetic.

AllenS said...

garage mahal said...
Personally, I watched the Nova on Stonehenge last night.

Me too. Nerd.


I watched the show about the tribe in South America that shrunk heads. They explained how to do it. You two are gay.

Chip Ahoy said...

I saw DWTS twice part of the way through, so I know whereof I speak. Bristol rightfully should have been eliminated long ago. How to explain her continuing presence? Steven Cowan in Black Earth makes a good point there, shooting out his television set by way of commentary. A Venn diagram of Bristol Palin voters and Tea Party supporters would be two exactly overlapping circles.

Anonymous said...

165 moronic Bigot-O-Mania posts and counting!

former law student said...

Breitbart calls Christian group "Haters." Why is Andrew Breitbart anti-Christian? I note Breitbart identified the Christian group as "Democrats." Does this mean the GOP is anti-Christian?

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/
2010/09/glenn-beck-says-tea-party-
will-set-things-right.html


Cordoned off by yellow police tape, hundreds of protestors stood in a dull drizzle, carrying signs and chanting behind a squawking megaphone, urging Beck to leave the state and urging attendees to reconsider their ticket purchase.

"I can't believe people paid money to come here," said Kerrie Rosenthal, 50, of Palatine, who came with several friends to protest the event. "Maybe people will stop and think, 'I'm coming into something hateful.'"

The protest was organized by Rev. C.J. Hawking*, executive director of Arise Chicago.

"There are a lot of religious leaders in the Chicago area who are beginning to feel Mr. Beck and others are hijacking Christianity," she said. "They are being divisive and filling people with fear and paranoia. I think the mainstream of American people don't want to have hate in the debate."

Converts were hard to come by as the large crowd filtered into the arena. The biggest reaction came from muckraking blogger Breitbart, who engaged in an emotional, high-decibel debate with the protesters.

"There are 300 of these people and there's just one person asking questions," Breitbart said. "I'm challenging these people. They're the haters."


*Rev. C.J. Hawking serves as the Harry F. Ward Minister of Social Justice at the Euclid Avenue United Methodist Church in Oak Park, Illinois

traditionalguy said...

The cable peudo-science shows are pushing the creation by an encoded culture from outer space hypothesis again. It does make sense compared to Darwin's stab in the dark. Now, who could the Great Encoder be?

Original Mike said...

Why, thank you, Allen.

Original Mike said...

Chip Ahoy said: "A Venn diagram of Bristol Palin voters and Tea Party supporters would be two exactly overlapping circles."

Two comments:

1) Why should we care?

2) Nerd.

AllenS said...

Mike, if you ever need help with shrinking a head, call me.

Darcy said...

I winced when I read this. I'd be pretty disappointed to read that on my kid's Facebook page. I don't care how common it is.

It's probably unreasonable to expect Sarah Palin's kids to behave better than everybody else's kids, though. For the rabid, hate-infused scrutiny they've been under, I feel for them all.

Original Mike said...

Well, Allen, I do have this hat that's too big.

Anonymous said...

165 moronic Bigot-O-Mania posts and counting!

Two - count 'em - two shoutingthomas posts since he declared himself out of here on account of the fact that the topic and thread were so insufferably boring.

Love to stay and chat, but I have a second-shift job to go to.

Word verification: asked.

Drew said...

For crying out loud, TMZ is like People magazine.

Au contraire! TMZ makes People Magazine look like The Economist.

Fernandinande said...

Dingleberries, clinging to the asshole of society. So bitter about being shat out so unceremoniously, so ungraciously.

Smell the entitlement. How much they miss having it.


Wow. Hate. Breathless, earnest hatred on display, hatred roused by the mention of homosexuals, and that's the most extra super awfullest kind of hatred, isn't it? Or was it just inadvertently funny?

chickelit said...

Chip said: A Venn diagram of Bristol Palin voters and Tea Party supporters would be two exactly overlapping circles.

Well I didn't vote for Bristol but I supported the Tea Party, so there's always room for outliers. I guess you're not so great with the visuals after all Chip.

Kudos to Althouse and Darcy.

Chip Ahoy said...

Original Mike, if you were to care at all, you should care because it shows again how wrong people get chosen. For little things like dancing and for big things like state and national elections.

Scott M said...

179ish comments on this thread, but the boom has been lowered in the form of another, newer Palinesque thread hereabouts.

John said...

"Venn diagram of Bristol Palin voters and Tea Party supporters would be two exactly overlapping circles."

But I thought the tea parties were Karl Rove funded astroturf. How is she getting so many votes? Do the Republicans employ that many operatives?

Darcy said...

Huh. So Bristol was the "wrong" choice on a show that allows the viewers of the show to judge whose performances they like best...because she got the most votes.

Huh.

Darcy said...

I'll add that I've only seen a few DWTS shows, but my impression is that it is not about who is technically the best dancer. The show plays up the personalities, the drama behind the scenes and the effort involved. I don't even think the judging is taken very seriously.

I don't think there are any wrong choices here.

Anonymous said...

But I thought the tea parties were Karl Rove funded astroturf.

Deep down they still believe this.

Harry Reid has hired Chucky Schumer to "better integrate our legislative- and message-crafting functions into a coordinated nucleus managing policy, press and politics."

as they simply think that spin is all it takes.

See, due to Obamacare, a 40% rise in your health care premiums, while losing choices, is good for you. You just don't know it yet and Schumer will explain it all.

Mary Beth said...

Is Tre gay? Or a little fey? Is he a high school student or someone that friended her in order to bait her? Not that he couldn't be both.

wv - expal
I guess that would be whoever leaked the FB exchange.

BJM said...

Palladian cuts to the chase with a thread winner:

I'm actually most offended by her inability to use the correct possessive form of "you", but that's another story.

Original Mike said...

if you were to care at all, you should care because it shows again how wrong people get chosen. For little things like dancing and for big things like state and national elections.

Elections matter, of course, and I do think it's damaging that lots of people vote in them for the wrong reason. I'm just mightly amused that some people seem to care that the "wrong" person will win some stupid TV show.

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

If statements by kids are so important, shouldn't we be spending more time analyzing the musings of OBama's daughters? After all, Inquiring minds want to know!

former law student said...

I never met anyone who said they started out straight but became gay, or vice versa.

You obviously never met Meredith Baxter from "Family Ties." She said she didn't figure out she was gay until her 1st same-sex relationship in 2002, at the age of 55.

1) We already covered your limited world experience previously in another thread when you said the exact same thing and were cited multiple celebrities who have said that EXACT same thing.

Hey, wasn't that "I am a gay American" governor of New Jersey, married?


I know you guys have reading comprehension issues, but please.

Today's discussion is about people who convert from gay to straight, or vice versa.

The previous discussion was about people who didn't figure out they were gay for years or decades.

I haven't heard anyone say: I used to be attracted only to members of the opposite sex, but now I'm only attracted to members of the same sex.

Phil 314 said...

The Palinopalooza continues.

And I really think Todd is getting short shrift, too.

C'mon Todd, get in the game!

garage mahal said...

I love how Alpha Liberal and Garage, who seems to be suffering from serious post election PTSD, are convinced that because Pailin is for DADT, her daughter must be a bigot by implication.

You are hallucinating.

former law student said...

Police say they logged numerous complaints of straight people being called “breeders” by gays over the July Fourth holiday weekend.

The Globe wants $5 for me to read that. Do you have any atrocity stories newer than 2006?

MadisonMan said...

TMZ makes People Magazine look like The Economist.

Every now and then I see TMZ on TV and I can't believe anyone would watch it. It's that bad.

wv: and I'm not making this up: unsuave

Anonymous said...

Huh. So Bristol was the "wrong" choice on a show that allows the viewers of the show to judge whose performances they like best...because she got the most votes.

Leftys have a problem with this "voting" thing. You see, the wrong people get to vote along with the "smart" people (leftys), and sometimes the wrong people win. Which is why you see "progressives" such as Tom Friedman lusting after China's totalitarian ability to dispense with this icky "consent of the governed" thing.

You also see this same issue in their insistence that certain people's speech needs "regulating" because they say things which are "unacceptable" and offend people with enlightened, correct views of the world.
And it's amazing that those people who need "regulating" by the completely non-polical, only-doing-this-for-the-good-of-all-society-especially-the-children regulators happen to be conservatives, or merely accused of being conservative.

Sometimes their little mean-girl tantrums are funny, like this explosion because the object of their hatred has had some success. But their "it's not fair" tantrums are dangerous when they have the political power to enact regulations which are then used to selectively silence those whith whom they disagree politically.

Treacle said...

"faggot" = "nigger" (at least in this gay man's world).

bagoh20 said...

That's right Darcy, when liberals don't like the vote, it must be cheating, racism, homophobia or just stupidity. Nobody they know voted for her, and that proves it.

Athanasius Kircher said...

Has anyone here heard of 4chan, homeland of Anonymous? The anons call themselves and everyone else faggots. There are lawfags, mediafags,vidfags,ITfags, etc. The usage arose because trolls started posting "You are all fags." So in a clever counter anons decided to call everyone fags.

In January 2008 many 4chanfags declared war on Scientology. After nearly three years of internets and IRL protesting they have caused the cult under its dictator David Miscavige (scifags) to implode,surely a great public service.

There are a lot of us gay people in the movement. It is heartening to be part of a social protest movement started and run by millennial fags.

When everyone is a fag no one is a fag.

bagoh20 said...

The incredible shrinking left. Down to attacking 16 year-old girls. Our pets are next.

Your chosen President and all your congress people are proven failures and this is what you got left - the teenager daughter of someone who lost an election 2 years ago doesn't meet your standards of speech on her Facebook page. Looking strong there pals.

RuyDiaz said...

I've spent some time today reading comments on leftist blogs about this episode. It has been very instructive.

A large number of anonymous people have showed they have no heart, no principles, and no feelings. Next time I hear an 'I care about the downtrodden' type of comment from a true believer, I'm going to assume it is complete B.S.

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