June 21, 2013

"Gandolfini’s death prompts rampant fat-shaming."

Says Salon, displaying lots of tweets. I question whether that stuff ought to be called "shaming." What I'm seeing looks more like This should be a wake-up call to anyone who's fat.

[Fill in the blank]-shaming is a meme, and it includes defining shame downward. I get that. But let's think about whether we want "shaming" to be a commodious category or a narrow one. I'm inclined to recommend narrow, but I'm highly influenced by the time I spent at the Wisconsin protests, amongst angry people chanting "Shame, shame, shame."

In this "fat-shaming" example, we might say the death of a respected actor ought to be an occasion to praise him, and not to offer up ideas about what he might have done to avert his fate. But I don't hear shaming in that. I hear this wish to avoid death: If only he'd lost weight, he might not have died. And: Fat people need to lose weight, or they might die too. That's more fear than shame.

The person who calls the response "shame"... what's his motivation? He might think "fat-shaming" is a funny, trendy way to refer to any statement about anyone being fat. But I think it's more like: Don't you dare talk about how anyone is fat, because fat people now have a way to bounce what we hear as an insult right back at you.

226 comments:

1 – 200 of 226   Newer›   Newest»
bagoh20 said...

Skinny people have heart attacks too.

Maybe just their hearts are fat.

Amartel said...

It's an easy, one-word, method of deflecting blame, blame, blame.

Like calling a contrary view "hate" is lame, lame, lame.

Anton said...

It's amazing how fucking juvenile our society has become. Just fucking amazing....

Anton said...

Oh, and Paula Deen is history at the Food Network for the use of a word that EVERY SINGLE ONE OF HER PERSECUTORS has used as well.

ampersand said...

Anton must be young. Google Mama Cass ham sandwich

Icepick said...

It's amazing how fucking juvenile our society has become. Just fucking amazing....

Not really. This has been the goal of the elites since at least the 1960s, in their quest for a compliant population.

Crunchy Frog said...

Here's a tip: all of us fat bastards know we are fat bastards. You don't have to tell us about it. You don't need to scold us about our weight, or our eating habits, or our lack of exercise.

The nag list: spouse, parent, boss, pastor, doctor, best friend. If you are not on that list, STFU already. You do not have nagging privileges.

Achilles said...

In the absence of financial or personal consequences for obesity is it any wonder it is becoming epidemic in an affluent society?

If you want to reduce obesity de-regulate insurance rates and allow insurance companies to charge a premium for fat people because their health care costs more. You would also need to remove Medicare and Medicaid subsidies and go to a market based approach with catastrophic over the top. But this is too complicated for the average public school graduate to understand.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I know fat people who are not dead.

David said...

Hey, what obesity crisis?

Anonymous said...

The ham sandwich story is not even true.

Mama Cass had lost 80 lbs in the previous eight months by fasting four days a week. It's probably this harsh dieting that led to her heart attack.

A great talent lost.

edutcher said...

How 'bout booze and cocaine shaming?

That probably had more to do with his death.

And there was also the fact he was legendary for his temper. Learning to calm down keeps you alive.

Anton said...

Oh, and Paula Deen is history at the Food Network for the use of a word that EVERY SINGLE ONE OF HER PERSECUTORS has used as well.

Give her 6 months, she'll be somewhere else.

ampersand said...

The ham sandwich story is not even true

That didn't stop any of the jokes in the pre-internet days.

Water melon diet was quite the hoot to boot.

Anonymous said...

In the absence of financial or personal consequences for obesity is it any wonder it is becoming epidemic in an affluent society?

If you think people aren't suffering consequences -- personal and financial -- for obesity, you need to talk to some.

chickelit said...

If only Liberace hadn't partaken in anal sex, perhaps he'd still be alive. Shaming goes a long ways.

jacksonjay said...


He has a disease! Shut The Hell Up!

bagoh20 said...

Speaking of shaming, and fat, and heart attacks, and butter, that Paula Deen thing is just nuts to me. She is basically getting fired for things she said that never got on the air, but more importantly this whole idea of our new speech codes is incredibly discriminatory, and racist in the name of fighting racism. It really incoherent emotional racism just like the old kind.

For example: Apparently there things that some people cannot say or imply without getting fired. Not just certain words but also completely innocent words combined in the wrong way or said in the presence of some other people.

It might be confusing, but it seems that a white person telling a black person that they have a sweet chocolate face one time in affection is a terrible and firable offence for an entertainer, but a black person threatening and or encouraging the killing whitey over and over in a recording is actually a great thing that brings in nice contracts and lots of money.



Anonymous said...

Being a fat woman looks like one of the real circles of hell in our society.

Kensington said...

As if fat people don't know they're fat.

If only someone would get in my face about it more...

bagoh20 said...

People are always saying things like smoking and obesity increase healthcare costs, but I don't see that. They die earlier, not more expensively. Healthy people may well cost the most by being around long enough to use more healthcare (especially with preventative care) than unhealthy ones. They both die in expensive ways at the end, but due to total cost over a lifetime, healthy people might need to be forced fed in smoke filled rooms if we want to control costs.

jacksonjay said...


He has a disease! Shut The Hell Up!

Michael K said...

Blogger bagoh20 said...

"Skinny people have heart attacks too.

Maybe just their hearts are fat."

The classic is the guy who wrote the book on running and died jogging at 52. He had a bad family history, though. A friend of mine with a bad family history is an exercise nut and is now over 80 and looks 60.

Michael K said...

"getting fired for things she said that never got on the air,"

The same thing was used against Mark Furhman and helped get OJ off.

somefeller said...

According to the NY Post:Gandolfini guzzled four shots of rum, two pina coladas, and two beers at dinner with his son — while he chowed down on two orders of fried king prawns and a “large portion” of foie gras, a hotel source in Rome said.

Sounds to me like he died happy. Good for him. Screw the joyless scolds. I'll think of him when I have a steak and a couple of beers later tonight.

Darrell said...

Fat people in general live longer. And have the weight to spare when serious illness culls the thin. But go ahead and feel superior. Btw, I am on the thin side of normal--so you can save the snark.

Amartel said...

The very vocal outrage over Paula Deen is another blame deflection technique in which the subject, who has said and/or thought all the things Paula Deen has admitted to, or worse, deflects potential blame by publicly professing shock and outrage, OUTRAGE I SAY, about that horrible horrible person.

Every month or so someone in the entertainment industry has to be sacrificed to the mob. Preferably a Christian or a Southerner. Then the rest of the industry ritually disowns them. It's like the scene in Star Wars where one of Jabba the Hutt's pig soldiers falls into the pit with the loathesome Alien thing and the rest of the pigs all cluster around the edge of the pit and taunt and laugh at his feeble attempts to escape being eaten.

bagoh20 said...

The people who should get health care discounts and our thanks are the ones in danger of a quick early death: primarily hang gliders, but people in any dangerous sport, especially Russian roulette. The best cost saving is from those who take a few others out as well. Here I'm thinking of drunk drivers, speeding drivers, gang members, terrorists, and drug dealers, or as I like to think of them "health care cost heroes".

johnnymcguirk said...

Btw later in the article the Post later clarifies that he ordered 2 piña coladas with 2 shots of rum on the side each. No doubt because the drinks were very weak. He wasn't "doing shots." Cheers.

edutcher said...

somefeller said...

According to the NY Post:Gandolfini guzzled four shots of rum, two pina coladas, and two beers at dinner with his son — while he chowed down on two orders of fried king prawns and a “large portion” of foie gras, a hotel source in Rome said.

Sounds to me like he died happy. Good for him. Screw the joyless scolds. I'll think of him when I have a steak and a couple of beers later tonight.


Not happy. That was a man trying to put something behind him and that's what killed him.

Darrell said...

Fat people in general live longer. And have the weight to spare when serious illness culls the thin. But go ahead and feel superior. Btw, I am on the thin side of normal--so you can save the snark.Define fat, but The Blonde agrees with you.

Too thin and you have nothing to keep you going when you get very ill and a real bout with the flu or something can really take it out of you.

There's a golden mean, as it were, although it seems a bit wider than the NIH or the media want people to believe.

somefeller said...

Btw later in the article the Post later clarifies that he ordered 2 piña coladas with 2 shots of rum on the side each. No doubt because the drinks were very weak. He wasn't "doing shots." Cheers.

That's not surprising. In my admittedly limited experience, cocktails tend to be poured weakly overseas.

Andy Freeman said...

> In the absence of financial or personal consequences for obesity

There are consequences....

> If you want to reduce obesity de-regulate insurance rates and allow insurance companies to charge a premium for fat people because their health care costs more.

(1) Are you willing to let them charge on an actuarial basis or do you "know" the right number?
(2) Do "too skinny" people get the same treatment?
(3) Are you willing to let insurance companies charge more/less for everything on an actuarial basis or is "weight" special? For example, women use more healthcare than men - can they be charged more? (The difference persists long after child-bearing.)

Revenant said...

Whenever anyone dies prior to their 70s there's a rush to find something to blame for the death. Something that person, or society in general, could have done to avoid the death.

That way people can say to themselves: I don't do that. I am safe. I will not die.

Revenant said...

If you want to reduce obesity de-regulate insurance rates and allow insurance companies to charge a premium for fat people because their health care costs more.

Insurance companies are already allowed to do that. The reason they don't is because the second half of your sentence -- the "their health care costs more" part -- is a myth.

madAsHell said...

I don't think he took very good care of himself.

Illuninati said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rockport Conservative said...

I don't know that the fat part should be the shaming, gluttony is really the issue of his last meal.

MadisonMan said...

Shame on the shaming!

There are no guarantees in life. My brother was thin and fit and died from cancer. He's just as dead as someone who doesn't take care of himself and checks out early from heart attack/stroke.

Life and let live is a good motto. STFU is another good one.

Illuninati said...

Prejudice against fat people is just as morally wrong as prejudice against people because of race. Not only are the remarks cruel, but they are also ignorant since the death rate for overweight people is not any worse or even better than that for skinny people.

The left has crossed a red line which respected peoples' right to privacy. When people make choices which affect no one but themselves, other people should butt out. The present trend was begun when the left attack smokers, persecute them, and treat them like second class citizens. At the beginning they had to manufacture an argument that the smokers were harming other people with second hand smoke although the scientific evidence to prove that position has been hard to come by. The argument about second hand smoke was useful as a pretext to control smokers' personal behavior.

acm said...

Supporters of Obamacare and similar schemes should hope we all die as Gandolfini did. He paid into Medicare 30 years (assuming he started working at 21) and got not one thin dime out. He didn't take the slide that many elderly people do (as is their right, which I don't mean to degrade) of hospital stays, medication, and long-term care.

KCFleming said...

Was he wearing a speedo?

KCFleming said...

I'd be for speedo-shaming.

Chip S. said...

Anton said...
Oh, and Paula Deen is history at the Food Network for the use of a word that EVERY SINGLE ONE OF HER PERSECUTORS has used as well.

Amartel said...
The very vocal outrage over Paula Deen is another blame deflection technique in which the subject, who has said and/or thought all the things Paula Deen has admitted to, or worse,

So, racism is so pervasive that we shouldn't bat an eye at people's expressions of it? Is that your argument?

Icepick said...

Personally, I blame Sir Mix-a-lot.

chickelit said...

@Chip: Didn't you call Paula Deen a "butterball" yesterday? Is that jive talk for "turkey"?

Chip S. said...

For someone w/ your command of Althousian history, you should be able to recall the thread about her recipe for English peas, to which that was a reference.

Up your game, chick.

chickelit said...

My command is your wish. I do not recall it. Althouse didn't tag it Paula Deen.

Chip S. said...

mmmm

She'll be hard to replace on the Food Network.

William said...

Tony Soprano was a man of gargantuan appetites which he could barely control. Thus so with James Gandolfini. It was the rawness and authenticity of his greedy impulses that made him so magnetic on the screen. The greediness of his appetites gave him an early grave but also made him rich and famous. Consumed by that which he was nourished by.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Looks like rappers are going to stand behind Paula Dean. They will all issue an apology for using the N word back in 2007.


Oh wait... not really.

chickelit said...

Chip, you dot connecter you! I would never put that together!

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

In this "fat-shaming" example, we might say the death of a respected actor ought to be an occasion to praise him, and not to offer up ideas about what he might have done to avert his fate.

What does respect for Tony Soprano's talent, humanity and career have to do with the fact that morbidly obese malnutrition is a problem right now? What, we should allow for a two-week "killing period" in our concern for the morbidly obese on account of the condolence we feel for Gandolfini? That's just weird. No one's shaming him.

Plus, it's mostly the fault of industries and lobbyists who block legislation to make healthy eating as accessible and encouraged a choice. If anyone deserves "shame", it's them. Not the American consumer - who is blocked at every turn from having enough accurate information, marketing and regulatory preference to be provided with a healthy consumer environment.

Chip S. said...

Pollo, I have the advantage of a comparatively brief tenure @ Althouse, so it's easy to recall the truly great threads. That was a classic.

Farmer said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

For someone w/ your command of Althousian history...

Lol. Someone had to provide this needed dose of sarcasm. ;-)

Geez Chick. There have to be better ways of staving off early-onset Alzheimers, man. Maybe crossword puzzles? I don't know. But this is getting a bit sad, man. It's not fun to watch this constant levying of imaginary accusations.

bagoh20 said...

"So, racism is so pervasive that we shouldn't bat an eye at people's expressions of it? Is that your argument?"

There are number of things I find wrong with what happened with Paula Deen.

Sure they can fire her, if they want. That's their right. But, the same companies that fire white people for this actually pay blacks to do much worse. One is shamed and outcast and expected to apologize, while the other is made a star often precisely for their use of racist slurs or worse.

Second, I don't think that when people say those things in conversation, regardless of which direction it's aimed, they are really doing something I consider racist.

Real racism is judging peoples character, ability, value, worth or rights according to their race. Even this real racism is not necessarily damaging anyone in the micro. It's when it leads to actions that hurt or damage people, or that damage our relations with each other that we need to take action. That racism should be held up, criticized, and even punished by laws or firing.

The use of certain language or ideas on a personal or even public level that are not intended to take anything away from anyone should not be something that we get worked up about. Some of that talk even endears people of differing races to each other, or at least it can and has in the past in ways that we are losing. When I was a kid almost everyone identified friends with ethnic slurs, and if they were too whitebread, you found something else, like "shortie", or "big boy", or "red", or "bucky". Few escaped it.

It was mostly harmless, it often was a way of saying: you are a friend, and I notice you are different in this minor way that is not important enough to stop me from being your friend. That's the message of this kind of relating and speaking. It acknowledged the difference that was right there to see, and impossible to honestly ignore. It faced it, accepted it, and defused it. You only avoid it with people you are not friendly with. People you don't trust. That's what we all do now.

What we do now is dishonest, unfriendly, and the opposite of defusing it. We put the fuse in and cut it nice and short. We are ready to jump at the first person who happens to notice that huge hump on our back, and says so, even if they find it simply different and interesting, and knowing full well they have one of their own.

What hump?

Farmer said...

I'm 15 lbs. overweight, all in my gut. I look like I'm wearing a pie under my shirt. I'm ashamed, as I damned well ought to be.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

There are no guarantees in life. My brother was thin and fit and died from cancer. He's just as dead as someone who doesn't take care of himself and checks out early from heart attack/stroke.

How is this something to resent in any way? If he'd died in an auto accident, would you be saying how great Phillip Morris are? It's just shifting the issue.

chickelit said...

@Chip: Trying to place where I was that day--perhaps on assignment at an undisclosed location--unable to regale with my usual wit and humor.

You were obviously lurking and holding your tongue.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Supporters of Obamacare and similar schemes should hope we all die as Gandolfini did. He paid into Medicare 30 years (assuming he started working at 21) and got not one thin dime out. He didn't take the slide that many elderly people do (as is their right, which I don't mean to degrade) of hospital stays, medication, and long-term care.

Some evidence that Gandolfini actually resented caring for the needs of the elderly as you do would be nice.

bagoh20 said...

I'm glad Gandolfini loved his liquor and food with abandon. I'm mostly envious of that last dinner. I wouldn't let myself get that fat, and therefore have probably enjoyed food a lot less that he did, but that's my problem. We need people like him. The worst world I can imagine is bunch of skinny self-conscious worry-warts bitching at each other for enjoying their lives in a different ways from "the ideal".

exhelodrvr1 said...

Isn't that what Michelle and Bloomberg are doing?

chickelit said...

Chip S. said...
Pollo, I have the advantage of a comparatively brief tenure @ Althouse, so it's easy to recall the truly great threads. That was a classic.

For the record, the last "classic thread" I recall was the Ewok thread--the one that drew in Ace of Spades.

SGT Ted said...

Its not that fat people are fat.

Its when fat people try to use their fatness to set themselves up as yet another member of the victim class to get special treatment or favors. Fatness is a disease? Hah what a laugher!

Yes, we know you are fat bastards and we're cool with that. Just don't go around acting like poor little victims and we'll stay cool.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Good thing we can count on Bag to bring the "pro-early death" sentiment.

Anyway, in researching Darrell et al's love of hefty BMIs as being inherently healthier (apparently from 25 to 30 they are), I ran across something on a British cyclist with a syndrome that prevents him from accumulating any fat, and then got to this bizarre images result on it.

You can thank me later.

exhelodrvr1 said...

Isn't that what Michelle and Bloomberg are doing?

Chip S. said...

But, the same companies that fire white people for this actually pay blacks to do much worse.

I don't watch the Food Network. Are you saying they have shows w/black chefs who talk like NWA?

People keep talking about Deen as if she was just calling her employees "my niggaz" or something. The problem w/ what she said--no matter whether it's what she's admitted to or what she's accused of saying--is the Moonlight and Magnolias attitude on display. Basically, what she said she wanted was to have the guests at a wedding served by a staff consisting 100% of men who looked like Uncle Ben.

How can anyone be surprised that a cooking network doesn't want to be associated w/that kind of attitude?

Revenant said...

But, the same companies that fire white people for this actually pay blacks to do much worse.

I'll be sure to pencil in "only *white* fucktards get punished for using racial slurs" somewhere at the bottom of my list of "injustices that must be corrected".

chickelit said...

You can thank me later

I could swear I've seen that somewhere before. But maybe I'm confusing it with the lactating sp(ringer) depiction.

Rusty said...

What did the midget say when he married the fat lady?

Tons of it! Tons of it! All mine!

chickelit said...

How can anyone be surprised that a cooking network doesn't want to be associated w/that kind of attitude?

I hope she feels free to go elsewhere or publish books or whatever. Spike Lee's career wasn't ruined over his careless incitements to harm (though he did apologize).

Fight The Glower!

edutcher said...

We do all know Mrs Deen was a big supporter of Der Fuhrer.

as far back as '08.

Amartel said...

Amartel said...
The very vocal outrage over Paula Deen is another blame deflection technique in which the subject, who has said and/or thought all the things Paula Deen has admitted to, or worse,

"So, racism is so pervasive that we shouldn't bat an eye at people's expressions of it? Is that your argument?"

Yesssss that's just EXACTLY what I said. My comment had nothing at all to do with Hollywood/media hypocrisy and blame deflection and was really an argument for ignoring pervasive racism. Why oh why did I not see this before. Thank you, O wise one, for lifting the scales from my eyes, for allowing me to see th .... Aw fuck off.

Revenant said...

Fatness is a disease? Hah what a laugher!

It isn't a disease; it is a side effect of neurochemical problem. People who feel an abnormal degree of hunger eat more than their body needs, and thus become fatter. If you felt an abnormal amount of hunger, you'd be fat too. Virtually nobody has the willpower it takes to live with constant hunger in a world where food is cheap.

Personally, I wonder if a good bit of the obesity "epidemic" isn't caused by the modern popularity of antidepressants. Many antidepressants (especially the ones that mess with serotonin levels) stimulate the appetite.

Chip S. said...

I hope she feels free to go elsewhere or publish books or whatever.

I can see it now. Scarlett O'Hara's Wedding Planner

Methadras said...

How about we make rampant leftist shaming more pervasive, hmmm?

chickelit said...

@edutcher: Calling him "Der Furor" would be just as snarky, no less accurate and a tad less offensive. Take it from me, who suffers daily the slings and arrows of Titus' fury--words matter.

Mark Trade said...

How about "rich shaming?" Shame on all those one percenters. Very similar to white shaming.

Chip S. said...

Aw fuck off.

Ah, now I see the logic of your position.

chickelit said...

@Chip: Do I detect sarcasm or genuine Southern antipathy?

Revenant said...

Spike Lee's career wasn't ruined over his careless incitements to harm (though he did apologize).

In other news, Jenna Jameson's career wasn't ruined by allegations that she routinely had sex outside of marriage.

Dr Weevil said...

Could be worse. You could be suffering the slings and arrows of Titus' furry.

bagoh20 said...

"I don't watch the Food Network. Are you saying they have shows w/black chefs who talk like NWA?"

I'm talking about the overarching corporations that own these shows, or others situations where that is the case. They often own recording artists or use them in their advertizing or as guest or whatever. They just aren't held to any such standard, and only because of their skin color.

"How can anyone be surprised that a cooking network doesn't want to be associated w/that kind of attitude?"

They have that right, but I think it's just too sensitive. I'm saying the audience is too sensitive, which forces their hand.

We notice it, but that's all. Nobody got hurt, nobody was really embarrassed by it or offended unless they wanted to be. For me, no harm - no foul. It's just colorful conversation.

Even if she actually did a wedding like that, it would be people voluntarily playing those parts, getting paid for acting a part that has some historic or artistic basis. Nobody would be required to drink from separate fountains or paid a fraction of the normal rate due to race. It would be theatre, and nothing more. We should all be able to handle that.

If she wanted a caveman themed wedding where the groom dragged the wife in by the hair, I'm sure some women would be outraged, but she should not get fired for talking about that either. Should she?

rcocean said...

His death was caused by his prior cocaine abuse. Cocaine DESTROYS your heart.

rcocean said...

But hey, lets ignore that and slam fat people.

chickelit said...

Dr Weevil said...
Could be worse. You could be suffering the slings and arrows of Titus' furry.

Thanks, but didn't Titus once boast of bathing in Nair? Or soaking in it...Madge?

Tom said...

The issue isn't fat. The issue is inflammation of the cardio vascular system. It's why marathon runners also have a high number of heart attacks. When our cardiovascular system has inflammation, LDL cholesterol is used to "patch" the inflamed area. The more patch, the likely a blockage. And eventually blockages lead to strokes and heart attacks. The key is to reduce the inflammation.

At the same time, heartburn is also from inflammation.

So, it means we have to figure out what inflames the body. This can come environment toxins but the most likely culprit is diet. Grains, especially wheat, are not made for human consumption. We don't digest them well and when we do, grains convert to sugar. High doses of sugar lead to the release of insulin. Insulin is highly inflammatory. Further, vegetable oils, grain-fed red meats, and process foods also lead to inflammation.

A moderate Paleo style diet can reduce a lot of this inflammation. There is lots of information on paleo out there. Robb Wolf and Chris Kresser are two places to start. Telling someone to simply eat less won't help them lose weight if they are gaining weight due to inflammation. If it did, a lot more people would be thin.

Dr Weevil said...

Nair, huh? So when Titus dresses up for the Furries' convention, he goes as a Naked Mole Rat?

chickelit said...

rcocean said...
His death was caused by his prior cocaine abuse. Cocaine DESTROYS your heart.

Shhhhh! You mustn't EVER diss recreational drug use...it's as sacred as recreational sex.

Chip S. said...

Do I detect sarcasm or genuine Southern antipathy?

I don't understand this question.

But what I really don't understand is why anyone thinks there's some noble cause at stake re Paula Deen.

A woman lost her job as a 21st-century TV harpy b/c she displayed a 19th-century mentality. Now there's an opening for somebody new to show people how to make English peas. What's the BFD?

bagoh20 said...

"Good thing we can count on Bag to bring the "pro-early death" sentiment. "

I do my part for the collective. I'm going hang gliding tomorrow for the first time in months, and I'm scared to death, but I do it for us all.

I think I speak for a lot of people when I say Ritmo, please join me and do your part too. You could join a street gang, carry a 9mm in the front of you pants, and a gangsta sister under each arm. You gotta take some risks for Obamacare to work.

chickelit said...

A woman lost her job as a 21st-century TV harpy b/c she displayed a 19th-century mentality.

Was she really worse than Mark Twain?

Dante said...

So let's see. Health of the individual to live later, suck off more social security etc., the state is there for you.

When it comes to encouraging out of wedlock child-bearing, and all that, the state is there for you.

In fact, wherever the state can be in personal matters, there it is. And it will become there stronger and stronger. Soon you will be required to get check-ups, because it is anti-social to not get them.

Anger management, it will be exercise management.

Let's look forward to foods disappearing from grocery store shelves. Low salt, low fat, etc.

You kids got to government sponsored day care/schooling? Better pack a right lunch.

Etc.

As Bagoh20 once said, death by a thousand cuts.

edutcher said...

Before we've driven the last nail into Mrs Deen's hands, would it be over the top to note that many of the same people trying to blacklist her are doing to blacks what she merely joked about?

Or do the Lefties' intentions excuse them?

El Pollo Raylan said...

@edutcher: Calling him "Der Furor" would be just as snarky, no less accurate and a tad less offensive. Take it from me, who suffers daily the slings and arrows of Titus' fury--words matter.

The point is to be offensive.

He has created a climate of fear and hatred in this country and I think the analogy perfectly apt.

Consider this item by occasional commenter Donald Douglas.

No, I'm not accusing anyone here of such sentiments, but the nut doing the tweeting (a Final Solution for the Christers) has certainly been given the go-ahead from the Choom Gang.

They certainly have their Gestapo and we know DHS has been arming up.

Why shouldn't I call him what he is?

bagoh20 said...

"What's the BFD?"

It's not about Paula Dean at all. I've never even seen her show, and I rarely watch the network.

It's about this tension created in our culture by the fake outrage that is just seeming to grow every day, swallowing up our ability to openly and honestly engage one another as equals. The growing density of landmines everywhere in our culture. It's actually getting scary just to be honest and open, and relaxed, especially if you depend on your image. You never know what new triggers are are being invented, and what will become a new viral outrage, that just a short time ago was normal.

We are suffering from a kind of cultural hypochondria, similar to the medical hypochondria that convinces us that everything we eat or do needs to be evaluated as good or evil. It's a slice of butter, or it's a colloquial expression. Neither will kill you instantly upon the slightest exposure. Life is about this stuff. We don't really want it sterile, and pure, and always non-offending, do we?

chickelit said...

A moderate Paleo style diet can reduce a lot of this inflammation.

Let's all take a moment to salute a paleo brother who soothed a lot of inflammation via his influence on music: Owsley Stanley

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

I think I speak for a lot of people when I say Ritmo, please join me and do your part too. You could join a street gang, carry a 9mm in the front of you pants, and a gangsta sister under each arm.

I think I'll follow the wise words of Nancy Reagan and just say no.

That scene in 8 Mile where Cheddar shoots himself with the gun in his pants is funny.

I enjoy watching you turn your sociopathy into good humor. It's an inspiration for the criminally insane everywhere!

chickelit said...

@bagoh20: Just want to say you're on point tonight and Ritmo is looks like he's struggling to keep up.

rcocean said...

Len Bias died from obesity.

True story.

bagoh20 said...

"As Bagoh20 once said, death by a thousand cuts."

I did? Well, I don't remember it, but yea, death by a thousand cuts is a big part of my point.

I always think of that movie "Brazil", and it seems impossible that things would get that ridiculous, but everyday, it seems like more and more you just can trust your fellow humans to just be fair, understanding, tolerant, mind their own business, and have a fucking sense of humor about our differences. I'm not talking about people in here but the whiney pundits that love to jack up the outrage and point fingers.

MadisonMan said...

@William, it's called acting.

bagoh20 said...

"That scene in 8 Mile where Cheddar shoots himself with the gun in his pants is funny."

Ha, I actually added that possibility to my suggestion for you, then I deleted it, thinking it over the top.

See, what I mean, you can't even tell a friend to shoot his dick off without feeling bad, and just self censoring. We were both thinking it, but I felt I had to pretend I wasn't.

Revenant said...

I'm talking about the overarching corporations that own these shows, or others situations where that is the case. They often own recording artists or use them in their advertizing or as guest or whatever. They just aren't held to any such standard, and only because of their skin color.

The same corporation responsible for broadcasting the childrens' cartoon "Dexter's Labratory" is responsible for broadcasting "Game of Thrones". Despite this, if the creators of "Dexter's Labratory" decided to air an episode wherein Dexter's big sister had graphic sex with a hairy barbarian, everyone involved would get fired. And you can be sure there'd be a few people such as yourself who bemoaned the hypocrisy of it all, that a company willing to show sex scenes wouldn't include them on every single show on every channel it owned.

But it isn't hypocrisy. It is branding. Deen was fired from the Food Network, not the Fat Racist Cunt Network. If there was a Fat Racist Cunt Network, people starring in shows on it wouldn't get fired for being fat racist cunts. People starring in shows on the Food Network, however, are expected to appeal to the middle-class white housewife demographic, and your average middle-class white housewife doesn't like people who call black kids "niggers".

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

I feel so deprived to not have an autistic chemist who can't remember who said what to him from week to week telling me how great I am.

Boo Hoo. ;-(

chickelit said...

Wow! So many people are so intent on killing this woman's career. I admit, I never watched her, I never saw how she rose let alone understand now why she must fall. I do understand the pride fall thing though.

Did she enrich anyone's life through cooking or was it all just a big joke as Chip intimates?


bagoh20 said...

Reveanat,

I said above it's not about Paula Dean, but for example, if someone were to see your comment including "Fat Racist Cunt" they might say you aren't fit to be around women in the workplace, or have a daughter live with you. They could make the same the kind of argument you are. You simply said the wrong words, and therefore you must be punished, and are unacceptable for things that have little to do with why or what you said.

A female Revenant might say you were a sexist cocksucker for saying that, and then we can chase her down and ruin her life too. It's all so wonderfully tolerant.

Chip S. said...

Was she really worse than Mark Twain?

Is this sarcasm, or genuine literary antipathy?

I do like the notion that she was playing the role of a foolish old gasbag in order to educate people about racial prejudice. It's a much better defense than "everybody does it".

chickelit said...

I'm lovin' the frisson,
'cause I know which side I'm on!

chickelit said...

Wow! So many people are so intent on killing this woman's career. I admit, I never watched her, I never saw how she rose let alone understand now why she must fall. I do understand the pride/fall thing though.

Did she enrich anyone's life through cooking or was it all just a big joke as Chip intimates?

bagoh20 said...

I think the comment above from Revenant is simply colorful language, but I could see it be published and some people could quote it selectively, and make the common arguments used today for why the man who said that is unemployable as a doctor, a teacher, a social worker, a politician, hell almost anything. That's the hysteria we are quickly creating as standard policy.

Amartel said...

I don't care about Paula Deen. She's a vulgar silly person, and an Obama voter finding out a little too late that the Progressive Indulgence System ain't quite all it was promised to be. (Like everything Progressive, it's a great delusion that fails in practice.) The point is the scale of The Outrage to The Crime, the apparent need to dissemble about what she actually said, and all the people ostentatiously grabbing tar and feathers and jumping on the bandwagon to run her out of town. It's odd and unnerving that people are so insecure that they feel a burning need to shame a cooking show hostess
for her backward ways. In a lot of cases it belies an underlying racism for which they are compensating.

Chip S. said...

In a lot of cases it belies an underlying racism for which they are compensating.

What cases are those?

bagoh20 said...

"It's a much better defense than "everybody does it".

It's not that everybody does it. Its that everybody does something, something unacceptable to someone somewhere. I think the phrase "Let he who is without sin..." was used to stop just what we are seeing happen. Dean wasn't a whore, but she said some bad words.

Amartel said...

It's all very Chris Matthews.

chickelit said...

Oh and Chip? Flashback!
I'm remembering (and appreciating) the night you took him to task for jumping on vbspurs the night she returned (she never came back :(. It's too bad you weren't around when he went after Darcy: link. But then, sadly, neither was I. We do have real lives, it seems.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Althouse got me good earlier today with a very apt and funny sting. I would call it Chin Music, in baseball meta. The thing is, If I'm going to dish it out, I should be able to take it.

But, I'm very sensitive to criticism. So much so that I used to use alcohol (among the list of reasons) to make myself immune to the feeling that I might be less than.

I can't go too much into it, other than to say I'm working on that.

I don't know if food works similarly in the mind of those that over eat, but, I'm imagining that it is similarly complicated.

If I said too much, go ahead and do what we do ;)

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Say what we say.

Chip S. said...

It's not that everybody does it. Its that everybody does something, something unacceptable to someone somewhere.

I've never known anyone who's ever thought that a really cool wedding reception would involve being waited on by Uncle Ben lookalikes. And I'm glad I haven't.

This doesn't strike me as a phony controversy whipped up by grievance-mongers. Why do I think that? B/c I'm not overly PC, and yet I almost spit out my coffee when I read the initial quote attributed to her by her ex-employee. Deen denied the very worst of it, but admitted to saying something pretty close to it.

One last time--it's not the magic word per se, it's the underlying attitude being revealed. And it's not "trying to destroy her" for executives to worry about the damage she could to their business. She had her chance to control the spin and she couldn't.

Poor Paula has nothing to fall back on except her restaurants and cookbook sales.

Carl said...

The person who calls the response "shame"... what's his motivation?

Goodness, that's easy:

(1) He's fat himself, or knows somebody who is, and he really doesn't want to believe the message ("fat kills") is true, so, in tried and true primate fashion, he attacks the integrity of the messenger. We all know truth can never be delivered by morally flawed people.

(2) He fits into the "establishment" side of the primate poo-flinging match he came across (the other side being the "bomb throwers"), and wants attention. He needn't be a permanent member of that side, it may well just have been the one that offered the most opportunity for attention.

(3) He's not only thin but smug about it, and secretly feels contempt for fat people. He makes a big show of hostility towards "fat shamers" to prove he's not one of them, both to the audience and to his conscience.

SgtPete said...

Hi Ann, great blog. Fat people result in our success of growing food, shelter, clean water, and medicine. Most people would love to be fat, if the time period was the late 1800 or early. Fat people have reserves to live through that winter, e.g., a time of cold days, no food, no frig, no stove, no heat for that winter shelter. Fat people can survive this. Today just one nuclear winter and come spring, only fat people will be left. We role the dice some win, some lose, but some day this winter will come. So stay fat, and one may just survive. Us skinny people will be gone by February. Love Ann, take care.

Guildofcannonballs said...

I am prompted to rape those who misuse terms, prompt being among them, to rape me.

No I am not linking Nirvana.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Ha, by linking Nirvana, I won the internet again.

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=rape+me+nirvana&btnG=Submit&oq=&gs_l=&pbx=1

Ha.

Anonymous said...

RE: In this "fat-shaming" example, we might say the death of a respected actor ought to be an occasion to praise him, and not to offer up ideas about what he might have done to avert his fate.

From an earlier Post Before A Guy Who Knows Gangsters Kinda Obliquely threatened Me:

Will we Forget Gandolfini as Quickly and as Thoroughly as We Did John Candy?

Is the Difference Memorability or the Comedy/Drama Unbalance?

Anonymous said...

From that Same Earlier Thread:

What I have Heard today (rumors spoken from Internet rumors) is Drugs, Cigarettes etc: Somehow we Lessen the Loss By Attributing It To Something We Think is Socially Unforgivable. I remember Belushi dying and the Same Responses akin to "He Had It Coming" rather than the Loss. That is the Connection I was Making: Talent that Will be Lost to Rumor. The Racetrack on Where we Measure Talent. The Hill We All Fall Down, but Usually With No One Watching.

Icepick said...

I don't watch the Food Network. Are you saying they have shows w/black chefs who talk like NWA?

Mmmmmmm! Big-assed biscuits!

Anonymous said...

I apologize for Regurgitating Pat Comments: Just Felt I Danced Around this Idea and Was Seen as Pissing on a Grave.

Icepick said...

Straight Outta Locash
A crazy mothafucka named Gusto
I fucked ya wife, cause the bitch is a big hoe
I fucked ya sister, I fucked ya cat
I would have fucked ya mom but the bitch is too fat!


And really, I think that says it all.

Chip S. said...

Mmmmmmm! Big-assed biscuits!

I think you've just given TFN an idea for Deen's replacement:

Cooking with the Kardashians

Anonymous said...

Re: Icepick said...

Straight Outta Locash
A crazy mothafucka named Gusto
I fucked ya wife, cause the bitch is a big hoe
I fucked ya sister, I fucked ya cat
I would have fucked ya mom but the bitch is too fat!

And really, I think that says it all.



Is it Wrong That I Danced to that Not Wearing Pants?


Lem the artificially intelligent said...

When Privacy and Equality no longer hold enough sway to quell unpleasant truths... or something commodious like that.

Icepick said...

I can't decide, is it better to

Float like a cannonball, sting like a shark

or

when I move I slice like a fucking HAMMER!?

Icepick said...

Is it Wrong That I Danced to that Not Wearing Pants?

That depends.

Synova said...

I don't know that the tweets were so outrageous. They seemed mostly to be untimely nags or even targeting the tweeter such as "I need to lose weight." I'll agree with unnecessary and possibly inappropriate but I don't see the need for outrage if that's the worst they could find on Twitter.

Also... Steve Jobs and alternative medicine? Was that wrong to mention? Sure... if you're talking to his family it's extreme bad manners, up there with telling the parents of someone who died in a car accident that they shouldn't have been driving so fast or shouldn't have been drinking. But we tell *other* people and hold up a dead drunk driver or someone who lets themselves die of a normally treatable condition as warnings to others. It's not *horrible* to do so.



bagoh20 said...

Dean was not fired for offending her audience, she was fired because it offended people with hair triggers, which is a lot of people these days. Then those people convinced the network to fire her, as they told the unoffended who care more about food than race that they are bad for not caring about race all the time. Then the hair triggers said "see, your audience is outraged".

I understand the networks reaction, they didn't have to fire her, but they knew that's the way to get the heat off fastest. That's their responsibility - businesses are usually cowardly. You have too much at stake to take unnecessary risks.

I don't think it makes me a racist to say: "so what, she said something dumb, and apologized". But, you see how people have to make up stuff they don't really know, like a dangerous underlying racism that somehow is gonna hurt someone. Who? Who was hurt by that? Maybe there is just not much there in the first place if you have to make up the really bad part.

MadisonMan said...

Were people really agitating that the Food Network fire her? Or did the Food Network just pre-emptively can her?

The shows I miss by not having cable!

Anonymous said...

RE: "when I move I slice like a fucking HAMMER!?"

Please Hammer: Don't Hurt Them.

Chip Ahoy said...

piña colada + 2r
piña colada + 2r
2 beers
deep fried giant prawns with sauce
deep fried giant prawns with sauce
large portion foie gras

son
regular meal
non alcohol piña colada

In Chip Ahoy terms the man ate three meals at once and that was only one meal that day and without any regular meal things in it that go like: [protein-slow carb-fat] sort of arrangement. I do like foie gras myself but a large portion would last a week enjoyed each day. I know people who drink a lot but not like that, maybe that much over time, but never order more than one at a time, and they are straightup alcoholics.

Shaming? Is eating like that so abnormal? Was that a regular meal for him? If so, how was he alive this long? Look, I don't care who you are, where you came from, what in your past you endured, that is too much food at one time and way too much alcohol. Regarding food he was a direct example to his real life son. Imagine his son seeing all that while having a regular meal and two little innocent drinks of his own.

I actually try to be that big of a pig sometimes and cannot do it. I tried it at Buckhorn Exchange just a few weeks ago and failed. While right behind me a table of gigantic linebackers were dividing up their ticket. I overheard one guy say, and this is a regular meal for theses guys, "let's just say $75.00 each and be done with it." A bargain actually. I turned around and looked a them like whatdoya jip the guy on his tip?

After reading what he ate and imagining that this is his normal I was instantly struck with a sense of cosmic balance that went something along the lines of there is only so much quantity of material you can push in your pie hole for processing in one lifetime that may or may not be used up, and only so much alcohol per lifetime, with great margin for variation between individuals, still, there is a human limit to food and alcohol processing capability, and this individual shoved his full lifetime of processing in 51 years.

Okay that theory sucks.

It was too much at once for a prolonged period. It could have been fixed by a reversal of habits, but it wasn't.

It is a shame. On his eating habits. For his son to witness , for his wife to be suddenly widowed, for us to lose a good actor to something so stupid as overeating/drinking. So yeah, shame away.

A little girl just now knocked on the door and returned a platter. A woman was standing behind her. I never saw the child or the woman but I do recognize the plate, "You forgot to take this back."

"Well you are the sweetest little thing. Thank you." I have no idea where I left this platter. Croissants or turnovers or something.

CrankyProfessor said...

I take peculiar pleasure in reminding my rail thin colleague who occasionally comments on my father's girth that her dead father died at a younger age of a wasting cancer. Dead dead dead. My father is still alive.

Anonymous said...

Paula Deen is a Carp along the Bottom of the Butter River. The Butter River Has Joy For Those who Dive Beyond the Moving Frigid Water. But: below the Frigid Moving Water: Butter.

Synova said...

If we want to talk shaming there's this.

I knew about this for a while. Instapundit linked to this post by Andrew Fox today. (I have a signed copy of Fat White Vampire Blues but haven't actually read it, maybe I ought to.)

According to Fox: "And that’s before we even get to the actual content of these two articles. Barry and Mike praise their pantheons of women writers, editors, and publishers to the skies! They idolize many of them. Far from giving them condescending pats on the head, they fully recognize the daunting social handicaps these women faced in the professional world of publishing prior to the 1980s and cite them as enterprising, talented, and incredibly driven pioneers. There are no snide put-downs in these articles; there are no put-downs at all."

While talking about women in science fiction these men apparently used the old fashioned term "lady" and mentioned that someone was attractive.

For that they're getting a full-on global shaming treatment.

It's truly a case of someone using the wrong words and no one seeming to care at all about the context or meaning.

I have to agree with bagoh that we risk a great deal to make this sort of thing the social norm.

Chip S. said...

But, you see how people have to make up stuff they don't really know, like a dangerous underlying racism that somehow is gonna hurt someone. Who? Who was hurt by that?

Me, for one. I am hurt by that.

How? Shrugging off this sort of wistfulness for the good old days of servile blacks is the sort of attitude that contributes to the persistent suspicion by blacks that whites really don't view them as equals.

That, in turn, feeds phenomena like 95% black majorities for Obama, plus untold numbers of White Guilt Voters.

And the resulting terrible policies hurt me quite a bit.

Anonymous said...

Re: "After reading what he ate and imagining that this is his normal I was instantly struck with a sense of cosmic balance that went something along the lines of there is only so much quantity of material you can push in your pie hole for processing in one lifetime that may or may not be used up, and only so much alcohol per lifetime, with great margin for variation between individuals, still, there is a human limit to food and alcohol processing capability, and this individual shoved his full lifetime of processing in 51 years. "

Is it Wrong that Your Writing Makes Me Magically Alift?


Probably.





But Keep Doing it.

And Whisper the Verbs.


rcocean said...

Boomers still talking about Racism. zzzzz.

Icepick said...

Please Hammer: Don't Hurt Them.

Not Hammer, ANKA. The guys get SHIRTS. You're on fucking notice, betamax! Don't make a fuckin' maniac out of me! Understand that? That's just the fuckin' way it is!

Freeman Hunt said...

I made a Paula Deen recipe once. It wasn't any good.

On the bright side, because it wasn't any good, it was probably not a contributor to James Gandolfini'd death.

Anonymous said...

To Pretend Everyone is Intrinsically White is Colonial.

To Pretend Everyone is Black is to be Patronizing.

To Pretend Everyone is Hispanic is to Be Xenophobic.

To Pretend Everyone is Buddhist is to Be Pandering to Easy Significance.

To Pretend Everyone is Asian is to Objectively Look at Test Scores.

chickelit said...

@Chip: Why should Asian or Latinos giving a flying fuck about black supremacy based on grievance?

Anonymous said...

RE: "You're on fucking notice, betamax! Don't make a fuckin' maniac out of me!"

I Thought I just Nonchalantly Irritated People. Making Maniacs makes Me Cool, like Ming.

Icepick said...

To Pretend Everyone is Black is to be Patronizing.

The important thing is that Barack is ... BLACK Y'ALL!

Let me see yo' tootsee ROOOOLLLLLL!!!!!!

Icepick said...


I Thought I just Nonchalantly Irritated People. Making Maniacs makes Me Cool, like Ming.


The Merciless? Or the one that's Amy Carter's drag queen stage name?

Icepick said...

Oh, wait, that was Miss Malarky Ying Yang, so you must have meant the Merciless.

AH! AAAAAAHHHHHH!

Betamax, I love you, but we only have fourteen hours to save the Earth!

Palladian said...

Butter is fabulous. Paula Deen isn't.

Palladian said...

Hey Icepick. So what was the terrible thing you heard about me? Being evicted? I hope that was it, and not some other terrible thing.

Anonymous said...

So -- in the Reality-Damaged World I Swim in -- Here is What Happens:

I Recombine and RePurpose a Multitude of Ann's Posts into Coherent Nonsense: Batman, Gatsby, Ed Gein, Japanese Starlet Girls, Seventies Vans etc etc.

Meade Laughs.

Ann Laughs at Meade Laughing.

They Laugh Together.

They Have Wild Fierce Love. Perhaps Accoutrements From the Portal are Involved.

Ann then Checks the Blog for Further Betamax3000 Posts.

You Are Welcome.



Icepick said...

That you were homeless.

Anonymous said...

RE: "Betamax, I love you, but we only have fourteen hours to save the Earth!"

But We Can Save Uranus in a Fraction of the Time.

Icepick said...

But We Can Save Uranus in a Fraction of the Time.

Well, that's a relief. That gives us a lot more time to goof around on the interwebz.

chickelit said...

Hey Icepick. So what was the terrible thing you heard about me? Being evicted?

Let me to man up and intervene in the interest of full disclosure. On the blog "Ambiance" (BTW where I tattle on Titus) I said in response to the long time Althouse commenter, Ron, in essence, you're not alone in being homeless, Palladian is too,

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I think I have limited my fat 'material' to my governor Chris Christie here in NJ.

If you can't make fun of a fat Politian, then its really Over.

bagoh20 said...

"That, in turn, feeds phenomena like 95% black majorities for Obama, plus untold numbers of White Guilt Voters"

So how many Black votes did we pick up by firing her?

The real racists have been slain, yet the outrage and grievance and the one-sided voting gets stronger as the real racism evaporates, only to be replaced by whatever we can use to maintain the outrage, because the outrage is the drug, and it feels good. It's like someone addicted to pain killers still complaining about the long gone pain. They love that somebody will listen when they dishonestly say it still hurts. It's a lie. She didn't hurt anyone. Face down the lie.

Revenant said...

for example, if someone were to see your comment including "Fat Racist Cunt" they might say you aren't fit to be around women in the workplace, or have a daughter live with you

I might say they owe me a million dollars apiece for annoying me. Let's see who gets lucky first.

No American has ever been barred from working with women and/or lost custody of his kids solely for using the word "cunt". The absolute worst-case scenario is that my current employer would fire me. Yeah, and? If I don't like my employer's attitude I can tell *him* to take a flying leap, too. :)

If you aren't willing to accept the consequences of talking, don't.

chickelit said...

No American has ever been barred from working with women and/or lost custody of his kids solely for using the word "cunt".

No American male ever got laid saying that either, unless he was paying. :) :)

Anonymous said...

I Have smeared Peanut Butter, Grape Jelly and All-American Apple Pie Over My Naked Chest and Abdomen. I Will Dance in the Moonlight.. My Metaphorical Walnuts Will Feel the Slight Breeze; my Nipples will Feel the Chill and Respond.

It Is Good Being Free.

Icepick said...

My Metaphorical Walnuts Will Feel the Slight Breeze; my Nipples will Feel the Chill and Respond.

Yeah, yeah, you got King Kong ballz....

Revenant said...

phenomena like 95% black majorities for Obama

Er... "phenomena"? 88% of blacks voted for Kerry, who is arguably the whitest white man ever to run for President.

Revenant said...

No American male ever got laid saying that either, unless he was paying.

Well nuts, now my hopes of anonymously convincing Paula Deen to shower me with sweet buttery loving will never come to fruition.

Anonymous said...

Whenevr I feel the need to say the C-word (which is Rarely the Case) I substitute "Bundt Cake."

I also Substitute "Boston Custard" for.....


Never Mind. A la Mode.





Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Chip S. said...
That, in turn, feeds phenomena like 95% black majorities for Obama.


The problem is that blacks have never developed the level of trust in the Republican party required to vote strategically. Jews split their vote, not perfectly but significantly so that they have some say in both parties policies, as do many other religious and ethnic groups.

Up until now this has only been a problem for blacks, since they are effectively disenfranchised. From now on, if they continue to vote at the levels they have in the last two elections, it is going to be a problem for the Republican party. For the moment I think the Repubs are hoping that this is a temporary Obama-specific phenomena. I think that once people start voting, particularly older women, they will tend to continue voting.

Anonymous said...

92% of ""fat-shaming Gandolfini Critics" will Vote Democratic.

6% of those Will Be at Paula Deen's Wedding Shin-Dig.

Anonymous said...

James Gandolfini Slave Caterer says:

Fuck a Duck, That's Wrong.

Anonymous said...

Gandolfini Dalai Lama Robot says;

Do Not Judge Me By My Lat Meal: in My Next Life I Will eat Rice Cakes and Soy.

Anonymous said...

Gandolfini Dalai Lama Robot says;

My Spirit Transcends My Last Dinner: I Ate With Abundance in the Name of Peace and Tranquility.

Peace, Pizza, Tomato, Tahmoto.

Anonymous said...

Gandolfini Dalai Lama Robot says;

I Gotta take a Dump: Universally.

rcocean said...

This boomer patronizing attitude toward "Negroes" gets so tiresome. Will they ever forget 1968 when they old "racist grandma" that Afro-Americans were people too?

Will they ever understand that Blacks are not "special needs" kids that need their patronizing protection?

But fighting those "racists" is just so much fun. And they never want the "fun" to go away. So they keep attacking "racism", even when "racism" doesn't really exist.

Remember the march on Selma? Remember when blacks couldn't vote in Mississippi? Remember MLK's "I have a dream speech"?

Ah, those were the days.

Anonymous said...

Gandolfini in a Speedo Robot says;

My Junk is More than the Sopranos can Contain: it Needs Stretchy Red Fabric.

effinayright said...

You see old people, and you see fat people.

You don't see very many old, fat people.

Or do you? Anyone want to point out exceptions, with "old" being older than, say, 75?

rcocean said...

And here's a thought for you dumb Libertarians and Republicans who obviously never known many black people.

Imagine you're a black person who's retired, unemployed, on welfare, or working at a minimum wage job. Why should you vote Republican?

Imagine you're a black person and you work for the Government. Or at a non-profit or a contractor that makes its money SELLING to the government. Why should you vote Republican?

Cutting the capital gains tax? Busting unions? Getting rid of "lazy" government workers?

Sell me.

Anonymous said...

Gandolfini in a Speedo Robot says;

Steven Van Zandt told Me the Boss Put Clarence Clemon's Saxophone in His Speedos: East Avenue Freeze-Out.

Anonymous said...

Gandolfini in a Speedo Robot says;

In My Red Speedos No One Calls Me "Big Pussy."

Of Course, no One Calls me ""Paulie Walnuts"," either.

Anonymous said...

Gandolfini in a Speedo Robot says;

In My Red Speedos I Look at the Ducks; In My Red Speedos the Ducks Look at My Sausage.

I Will Not Eat Duck Sausage. Personal Thing.

Chip S. said...

Imagine you're a black person who's retired, unemployed, on welfare, or working at a minimum wage job. Why should you vote Republican?

Well, I'd suppose that a white person who's retired or on welfare would have no greater reason to vote Republican than a similarly situated black person. So I don't see how that explains anything.

As for the unemployed, I'd suppose they might consider voting Republican if they thought the economy might improve. Maybe that's why young males were the least likely blacks to vote for Obama in 2012.

Imagine you're a black person and you work for the Government. Or at a non-profit or a contractor that makes its money SELLING to the government. Why should you vote Republican?

Again, I'd suppose you'd have the same incentives as whites in the same jobs.

But maybe blacks are overwhelmingly employed by gov't or gov contractors. The first part is easy to check:

pct. of blacks working in the public sector: 19.3
pct. of whites working in the public sector: 14.2

A difference? Yes. An overwhelming difference? No.

Why, it's almost as if you're dealing in stereotypes. But I know that can't be true, b/c this thread's convinced me that there's no racism anymore.

If only I knew some black people, I'd've already known that.

KCFleming said...

Quien es mas anti-racist?

chickelit said...

If only I knew some black people, I'd've already known that.

The black people I know down here are in the same fix, Chip.

Chip S. said...

Quien es mas anti-racist?

¡Los negros, por supuesto!

Chip S. said...

Este hilo me ha hecho loco.

Anonymous said...

Imagine you're a black person who's retired, unemployed, on welfare, or working at a minimum wage job. Why should you vote Republican?

Like Chip S. I don't get the black qualification for those categories.

An American in any of these groups would vote Republican because they care more about the future of our country in the long-term than how much they can benefit personally in the short-term by government entitlements of one sort or another.

Such a person would believe that they would benefit more from living in a thriving nation of self-reliant people than from a nation of people looking for the government to take care of them with a ponzi scheme that is certain to crash in the next twenty years or sooner.

Palladian said...

"That you were homeless."

Ah. Alas, yes, I am technically homeless. I was evicted late February from the crumbling loft in Brooklyn where I had lived for more than a decade. I stayed with various friends for a couple of weeks, and then was fortuitously allowed to occupy a dorm suite at the college where I teach. Because of summer occupancy, I had to vacate the dorm at the beginning of June, so I've been "wandering the earth" since then. I have to find a new, permanent place in NYC in time for fall classes, but I dread that because I have no savings at all, and no regular income until September. Most of my belongings (a vast collection) is in storage in New York, so I have to pay that storage bill, make enough to survive and also extra to send to my mother (who I've partially supported since she became permanently disabled). I've also been dealing with some serious health issues, so It's a lot to deal with, and I've been living from day to day. I've sold a lot of my valuables and pick up the odd freelance job but the future terrifies me. I'm currently selling the last of my camera equipment, so if anyone is in the market for a Nikon 60mm macro lens (my favorite lens of all), place your bid.

I'd flog prints from my "Sketchbook" website but my printing equipment is currently in storage so I'm only able to sell new drawings or commission work at this point.

This is probably more information than you wanted, but it's nice to unburden myself once in a while. I really appreciate your good wishes.

Palladian said...

Let me to man up and intervene in the interest of full disclosure. On the blog "Ambiance" (BTW where I tattle on Titus) I said in response to the long time Althouse commenter, Ron, in essence, you're not alone in being homeless, Palladian is too,

No problemo. I'm not ashamed of my situation and if I can serve as a comfort of some sort to anyone else in similar circumstances, I'm happy to do it. I'm a good example of the fact that anyone, through the vicissitudes of life and fortune, can find themselves in deep trouble. It can all fall apart, for any of us. I had to learn that lesson the hard way.

rcocean said...

Chip,

Is the sky blue in Libertarian land?

And yes, I know plenty of black people, what about you?

rcocean said...

Chip,

Listen to me Chip. Come off the ledge, Chip. Libertarian-ism won't solve anything. I talked to your Mom, and she'll take you back. You can write in Spanish and type on internet all you want. She'll even pay the Comcast bill. Just clean up the basement.

Chip? Can you hear me Chip?

MayBee said...

If people don't think actors should be fat, they should refuse to watch show with fat actors.

If you watched the Sopranos, you were encouraging Gandolphini. You only have yourself to blame for his death.

MayBee said...

At least that's what we hear with politics.

David said...

Bad times, Palladian. Sorry it's happening.

Is there some way we can blame Bush?

edutcher said...

Mrs Deen's fortunes will return if her cookbooks continue to sell.

That's something that can happen over the electric Internet or in a bookstore. Nobody else need know.

Revenant said...

But it isn't hypocrisy. It is branding. Deen was fired from the Food Network, not the Fat Racist Cunt Network. If there was a Fat Racist Cunt Network, people starring in shows on it wouldn't get fired for being fat racist cunts. People starring in shows on the Food Network, however, are expected to appeal to the middle-class white housewife demographic, and your average middle-class white housewife doesn't like people who call black kids "niggers".

You sure about that?

Or do they just do it only in the presence pf people of like sentiment?

AnUnreasonableTroll said...

That, in turn, feeds phenomena like 95% black majorities for Obama.

The problem is that blacks have never developed the level of trust in the Republican party required to vote strategically. Jews split their vote, not perfectly but significantly so that they have some say in both parties policies, as do many other religious and ethnic groups.


I think this is proof positive Troll is brain-damaged.

From 1866 to about 1960, blacks voted Republican in significant numbers. The promise of the Welfare State and the excuses of community organizing changed that.

Rusty said...

MadisonMan said...
Were people really agitating that the Food Network fire her? Or did the Food Network just pre-emptively can her?

The shows I miss by not having cable!

In my case I just don't give a damn.
Is she related to the Kardashians?

Icepick said...

Palladian wrote: This is probably more information than you wanted, but it's nice to unburden myself once in a while. I really appreciate your good wishes.

Not too much info. There topics where there are TMI are few, and they ultimately fall into two categories. This isn't one of them.

I'm really bummed to hear about this, Palladian. What the fuck is going on in the country? Incidentally, my family and I can uncomfortably close to ending up on the street in the last few years. A few lucky breaks is all that kept us from living in our car.

Icepick said...

Is there some way we can blame Bush?

The more important thing is, How do we move forward? And I don't mean that as a campaign slogan for the current thug in power.

Icepick said...

That's something that can happen over the electric Internet or in a bookstore. Nobody else need know.

Except for the NSA and the Federal government, of course, and anyone they care to share the information with in order to shame and humiliate you.

Icepick said...

Imagine you're a black person who's retired, unemployed, on welfare, or working at a minimum wage job. Why should you vote Republican?

Why should you vote for the Dems when they're promising to import tens of millions of another minority to compete for the jobs you want, suppress the wages you'd like to earn, jam the welfare roles so that benefits need to be cut, and oh, BTW, perhaps even displace you from your traditional neighborhoods. (See Compton for the last.)

But hey, in return for that you get to vote for a guy with a different ethnicity than yours (at least on the black side), from a different background than yours, whose main concern is using your racial resentments for his own petty needs.

None of that means they should vote Republican (at this point in time, no one should, as they're almost as awful as the Dems), but it is mystifying that a large group of people would consistently vote against their own self-interests, in favor of a party that has consistently fucked them in the ass since ... well, since that party was founded way back in the day.

Icepick said...

Also? Two hundredth, bitchez!

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