And let me invite Rush to go on Bloggingheads.tv and diavlog with me about the so-called chickification problems that plague our world today.
ADDED: Here's the show transcript including the text of what's in my video clip. Rush continues, with some talk about the Wikileaks leaks, a few paragraphs, and then:
And you have this little sissy, Julian Assange, thrown in the middle of it. Assange is a community organizer on the world stage, and who's his enemy? The United States of America.Ironically, this sounds defensive. Keep thinking about it, Rush. (I want to live rent-free inside his head.)
... I mean, look, to those of you who are offended by my description of Assange as a sissy, would you want him in the foxhole with you?...
Look, the chickification of our culture and society is rampant. We've become defensive. We've become politically correct. We've been overly concerned with everybody's feelings about things...
Posts
153 comments:
You and Rush have been on a collision course for months. This virtual meeting is fated to take place! Bloggingheads.tv, make it so!
Meta!
Narcissistic, perhaps? A tad?
So pleased to receive attention from the Great Hater.
"So pleased to receive attention from the Great Hater."
I don't think the blogger lady cares about the fact that you comment here.
But she has an open forum so enjoy.
"And let me invite Rush to go on Bloggingheads.tv"
May I suggest January 12, 2011 as the date. You and Rush will both be exactly at your shared midlife point.
BTW, Rush Limbaugh has made a real ass out of himself, recently, blasting US car company General Motors and car magazine Motor Trend for their ideological impurity.
Motor Trend hit back!
So, Mr. Limbaugh; you didn’t enjoy your drive of our 2011 Car of the Year, the Chevrolet Volt? Assuming you’ve been anywhere near the biggest automotive technological breakthrough since … I don’t know, maybe the self-starter, could you even find your way to the front seat? Or are you happy attacking a car that you’ve never even seen in person?
Last time you ranted about the Volt, you got confused about the “range,” and said on the air that the car could be driven no more than 40 miles at a time, period. At least you stayed away from that issue this time, but you continue to attack it as the car only a tree hugging, Obama-supporting Government Motors customer would want. As radio loudmouths like you would note, none of those potential customers were to be found after November 2.
Back to us for a moment, our credibility, Mr. Limbaugh, comes from actually driving and testing the car, and understanding its advanced technology. It comes from driving and testing virtually every new car sold, and from doing this once a year with all the all-new or significantly improved models all at the same time. We test, make judgments and write about things we understand.
They're SMMMMMOKIN!
Motor Trend smokes Lush Windbag:
This is another of your distortions, Rush, repeated by the otherwise more level-headed George Will in The Washington Post last Sunday. The $7,500 Obama tax credit is an expansion of President Bush’s hybrid credits from the last decade. The Obama tax credit extends to the new Nissan Leaf, too, but if you or Will slammed that car, I’ve not heard or read it. I’d be surprised if you did, though, as Nissan is building the Leaf in a non-union factory in a right-to-work state represented by two Republican senators. A factory located there because Tennessee offered Nissan big tax credits. Maybe you’re worried that if the $7,500 tax credit works, too many people will buy the Volt, and that could reduce the need for oil drilling tax credits?
Read more: http://blogs.motortrend.com/rush-judgment-5957.html#ixzz16nwD9pNw
No doubt Limbaugh is offended at the "sissy" notion of not polluting. In Windbag's world, real men pollute!
Just listened. Brava, Althouse, brava!
I'm fed up with phrases like 'throws like a girl' and 'crying like a little girl.'
You were also adorable, if I may be so bold, AND you managed to do a diavlog with Rush on your terms.
A video of you, on your blog, listening to a radio host talk about you.
You're a doll. :) And alphaliberal got it. Good thing it's not a mental disorder anymore.
Oh man, that déjà vu thing is happening all over the place again.
I don't think that this Althouse clip wasn't a very good pitch. I doubt that it will tempt Elrushbo.
He doesn't want to engage an uppity gal in a conversation about the political correctness of "sissy" and "chickification."
The Althouse pitch should have been more focused on praising the big man. Sure, she claimed to listen to every show. But, that was a defensive gesture to counter Rush's disappointment resulting from her piss poor understanding of where Rush is coming from. She probably dug the hole even deeper: what sort of true fan could listen everyday, and still not understand where Rush was coming from.
Althouse should have had more sucking up, and less feminazi/metronazi whining.
Now she blew her big break.
PS you are rocking that outfit.
I don't see what the big freakin deal is. If you want to talk to him just call in to the show. I am sure he would put you on. Then you can ask him to be on boringheads.
1jpb, while I appreciate where you are coming from, I believe Althouse was conforming to the Shakespeare addage, 'to thine ownself be true.'
To have kissed his ass would have been...(fill in the blank, my babies).
I mean that is how Garage got on the Road Kill Recipe Show on NPR.
AlphaLiberal wrote:
Motor Trend smokes Lush Windbag:
This is another of your distortions, Rush, repeated by the otherwise more level-headed George Will . . .
My God that is the most pathetic excuse for Limbaugh-bashing that I have ever read.
If you can't make a coherent argument or a witty comment, please stop typing.
I didn't hear Rush on this matter, but if he called Assange a "sissy" I would have to agree. I am so sick of woosified little men who think themselves either of relevance or importance. As an attorney I personally will welcome the day when masculine men, who protect our country and its citizens, are again held up as role models for our sons and examples of manliness to our daughters.
Motor Trend brings it on:
You’ve made two king’s ransoms by convincing legions of dittoheads to tune into you every day. I wonder, do you ever ride in anything that’s not German or Anglo-Saxon? Do you have any idea how powerful IG Metal is, and of the size of Germany’s social safety net?
Terry said...
Remember, these "writers" ended up working at "Motor Trend Magazine". Not exactly the cream of the wordsmith crop.
You most likely know this, "ange" is French for angel (and that is why you crack me up).
Agree with deborah. You look great. If I were Rush I'd invite you on the show in a minute. It'd be a riot and you'd both have a blast.
Sissy is a category that has evolved. First it meant boys who were afraid to do something. Next it meant any effeminate actions. Next it meant a male gay person that played the female role. Finally it seems to means an apparently brave contrarian challenging the most dangerous people on earth. I again wonder if the US put him up to this. The professor's point is a take off against calling 98 pound weaklings sissys...but just wait until Charles Atlas's dynamic resistance system takes effect.
Totally agree, it's distracting from the (I'm assuming) larger point.
And Deborah, I'm with you on all the 'throws like a girl' comments. They're lazy and plain wrong.
LOL, Alpha's moved on from cut'n'pasting stupid crap from Media Matters to cut'n'pasting stupid crap from Motor Trend.
He's so lame he can't even write his own stupid crap.
That was Dynamic Tension system. And it really works.
Heh, mostly he's talking about himself. ;-)
On Blackfive they don't call him "sissy" they call him "Ass Mange".
I do want to be sure to compliment Ann for criticizing Rush. I know she craves praise from the right wing so it wasn't easy for her.
-----------
Oh, and Motor Trend? Love that piece! The closing kicks (big) butt!
If you can stop shilling for your favorite political party long enough to go for a drive, you might really enjoy the Chevy Volt. I’m sure GM would be happy to lend you one for the weekend. Just remember: driving and Oxycontin don’t mix.
Emphasis mine! hee hee!
Read more: http://blogs.motortrend.com/rush-judgment-5957.html
Oh, bloody wow.
I just now realized you can drag the tiny triangle at the bottom-right corner of this here dialogue box and expand the box beyond the formatted border.
And Deborah, I'm with you on all the 'throws like a girl' comments. They're lazy and plain wrong.
I agree as well, I now think its entirely appropriate now to say "throws like President Obama" (with all due respect).
MeadeConfession
One of my many self-assigned jobs for which I am embarrassingly way WAY overpaid is that of catching typo's in Althouse posts before they can be repeated in the blogosphere, or, in this case, read over the air by the El Rushbo himself.
Cleaning and oiling my gun is no excuse. Nor is truing the wheels on my mountain bike. Everyone knows I reshingled the roof, butchered the hog, and plowed the back forty LAST month, so those excuses won't wash either. Drat.
Guess all I can do is, well, MAN UP! And then I'll just redouble my prodigious efforts.
Head 'em up... Move 'em out! HYAW!!
Just remember: driving and Oxycontin don’t mix.
Emphasis mine! hee hee!
What, are you like 12 years old?
Sheesh.
Yeah, Steve, I don't think he ever played much.
Alpha Liberal advances the progressive trend to demean people with addictions. Nice. Very funny. AL, can you give us some on people who share your disability?
"He doesn't want to engage an uppity gal in a conversation about the political correctness of "sissy" and "chickification." "
Is he a sissy? Is he chick(en)?
"The Althouse pitch should have been more focused on praising the big man."
Oh, bullshit. What do you imagine my goal is? I say what I have to say, and that's it. I don't curry favor with anyone. I think that's disgusting, and I'll wager Rush does too.
Alpha Alfalfa Please stop talking about the fucking car. No one cares.
When I was seven my older brother told me I throw like a girl and it scarred me permanently. I told him it haunted my nightmares for decades and he burst out laughing. Bastard.
Is narcissism the Althouse theme today? Expertly meta-played, and funny!
Ann asks "do you really see that much chickification outside of NYC, LA and Madison?"
Rush replies "Kinda odd question from a blogger who has called out some of her own commenters as pussies".
You're writing about Rush talking about you writing about him...I'm getting dizzy.
Absolutely do not call his show! You'll both be sucked into a black hole through some sort of meta-physical cancellation.
When Rush talks about the chickification of our world or of America he is only insulting women if you deny that there are destructive chick traits, destructive of an ideal society ala Rush. Example: chicks are risk averse and security prone, moreso than men. It follows that a chickified society will be a society that chips away at freedom/risk taking/competition/hierarchy in the name of consensus/safety/compassion/equality. As ours does.
Well... chickification...
We call people who are a "dick" a "dick" after all.
As for men who aren't physically imposing... well I don't know that "masculine" is the same thing as "physically imposing." Consider, oh, the actor Jackie Earle Haley. He's a scrawny little guy. Look at the characters he's played recently; Rorschach and then Guerrero on the show Human Target. Someone physically *imposing* probably couldn't pull it off if he tried.
Julian Assange isn't *small* is he? I never thought he was small, just colorless. Milky. Smooth.
And what he's doing is this sort of public theater that is all about how courageous he is, how brave, how robust.
The choices of insult is probably defined by that as much as anything else.
Are sissies, pussies?
Nor can we ignore Assange and Hillary in the narcissism nexus.
Excellent Althouse.
I hope Rush says yes to bhtv..
Excellent example, Synova! I still love Jackie Earl Haley from Breaking Away and the moment he decides to "punch the clock" out of working class, townie anger, is another illustration of how perfect he is as a pocket-sized macho guy.
Loved this that you told the Big Guy:
"To say men are like women when they're being cowardly and weak. I don't like it ... Also, some chickification is a good thing. Women have a lot to offer. Think about it"
As I wrote back in June about the so-called feminization of our culture:
It isn't "feminization" at all, but, rather, postmodern, identity-politics "feminism" — one of a cascade of unfortunate byproducts of the Gramscian march through the institutions — that has given us an increasingly impotent chattering class of credulous Chris Matthewses of both sexes.
I throw like a girl with my left hand, but I'm getting better.
You have to throw left-handed to make a dog video of the resulting chase-down.
The camera only works right-handed.
I don't think Rush would be into bloggingheads, as it's off his format.
I fact he usually sucks with caller dialog, and those are screened, because they pull him off his bigger-than-life riff; which, remember, is played for laughs at his own expense.
His deep background is being a prankster. Politicians and the welfare state are fertile material, and it happens to be the material the media have been living off of for decades. That makes it grand entertainment that it's all finally cleared away in ridicule.
Against Althouse there's nothing to undermine.
Althouse doesn't think his undermining of Wikileaks was appropriate. The real situation is that it wasn't funny, that is, it wasn't up to his usual prankster standards.
Julian Assange is a hero to me... and to many others! Who else is going to promote honesty and transparency in government? You know... forcing governments to tell the truth and not just spew out market-tested garbage that they think will help them in the polls.
That, in fact, is the bottom line: That the folks in our government care more about the polls and maintaining power than the good of our country. Julian Assange is calling them on this, and that's primarily why they hate him (and are now talking about his extrajudicial assassination!).
And there's nothing more disturbing than the leading anti-Establishment conservatives acting like schoolyard bullies and taunting people they don't like because of their "girlieness"... Interesting to watch Althouse in bully-mode. You're sort of used to it from Rush, but not from the Professor. Tsk tsk.
I think there's an amount of jealousy here. Assange is getting attention and promoting a message that is resonating with people-- especially young, technically-inclined people-- and the old fogies just can't stand it. It's the new generational warfare.
Today's counterculture hippies aren't at Woodstock; they're on reddit.
Thank you Ann. I really appreciate what you said...and by the way, Assange has been accused of rape by at least two women so it would seem to me that in Rush's view of things that should get him off the sissy list.
I have to admit that I often agree with Rush, but all this chickification stuff just sort of annoys me.
Julius, I'm not too worried about this last bit of Assange Theater, but the Afghan war stuff got people dead. What he released on his own authority, because he's just so damn righteous, got real people really dead.
Granted, they were just quaint little brown villagers, so no one really cares about that.
Which, really, only makes it far worse.
I wouldn't defend him. What's stuck to him might be catching.
haha Lush "oxycontin" Limpballs is the FACE of the teabaggers. Please nominate him!
As deaf as Limbaugh is reported to be, would Bloggingheads even work with him?
hahaa Lush is deaf ahahahhahahahaha
This tidbit reminds me of a conversation/fight between the leads in a movie, best remembered for who was not in the lead.. Bo Derek.
Define broad
Commenter Alex, has always come across to me as a sissy.
Ann Althouse said...
Alpha Alfalfa Please stop talking about the fucking car. No one cares.
Does that mean I can't quote that wicked takedown of Chris Matthews I read in Martha Stewart's Living?
Also, unlike the people Plame's "outing" supposedly put at risk, we *know* the names of real people who's only defense was anonymity who were targeted and killed because Assange felt it prudent on his authority to decide to release their names publicly and make them targets of the Taliban.
Bravo!
Gotta just LOVE the guy.
Cuz that's so moral and shit.
Asange (yes, I dropped an 's' in the event filtering thinks it's profanity), is effete. It's not his size (according to Forbes' interviewer, he's 6'2") it's his passive, bitchy manner. He doesn't *do* anything and he's not *doing* it for any reason other than no reason.
Reminds me of the three nihilists that jumped Lebowski and Carl in the bowling parking lot.
On the other hand, he is *not* "taking on the most dangerous government" in the world. I would love to see Nork, ChiCom, Sudan, Zimbabwae and others exposed.
But the fact remains he's not "taking on" anyone. He runs around the world, "fleeing" the least harmful country in the world, flouncing his skirt with red-faced haughtiness. He's a gossip collector, sorter, and publisher and his reason is only... what? Some limp-wristed, lisping mumble about information wanting to be free.
I think Rush nailed it--he's good, you know, with memorable, instant labels. I think the repetition was him trying it on for size. I think he would've gone right for 'fairy' if it didn't have sexual connotations.
Think, for a moment, of another quick tag for Julian? Tattle-tale? Not funny.
Powder? Too obscure, but the right direction.
Man, 'sissy' just nails it.
Now, separate the man from the action.
The release of this information (and I hope there's more and it's not focused on the US) is exactly what we need. It reminded me of Soltzhenitsyn's comment (after assuredly misspelling his name, now I'll paraphrase) that when the secret policy entered the apartment building, he hid behind his door, listening to the boots tramp through the hallways, praying they wouldn't stop at his... when they left, pulling a protesting innocent from his home, the remainders breathed a sigh of relief. "What would've happened," he asks, "if we met the police with axe handles and pans and beat them the first time?"
Releases like these, not only hurt our good national efforts but they also have the positive effect of keeping our government honest and -- hey -- wasn't Obama's theme transparency?
"I say what I have to say, and that's it"
And, I'm guessing that the big guy would see that Althouse was positively beaming when he read her words. And, her glee runs wild when he says "Well, I did, Ann..." As soon as she hears the direct reference her devotion becomes obvious.
So, maybe there was enough authentic sucking up.
According to Greg Gutfeild...
"One revelation: China was fine with a reunified Korea. That won’t please the North, who are already lobbing rockets at the South. By dumping those cables, Wikileaks just changed history, instigated war, and doomed peace."
Of course... Koreans are also quaint brown people so if Assange really did reveal this and it really does destabilize an already unstable North Korea, it's only nameless, faceless brown people who die so...
No problem.
Hm?
You know... we VOTE on who we want to be in charge of this sort of information. I don't recall ever voting for Julian Assange.
Assange being accused of rape doesn't make him manly. It makes him more of a sneak and a coward.
Yes, I do think Ann threw El Rushbo for a loop. In the old Bengal Lancer movies, what he was doing at the end of the clip used to be known as faffling. Character actors like C Aubrey Smith, Nigel Bruce, and Sebastian Cabot made careers out of it.
In the lexical sense, sissy means several things, not the least of which is being willing to stand in the open and fight your fights "like a man" - something the Lefties have been denigrating for years. So El Rushbo has a point, but Ann got the better of him here. Not being a big guy myself, I learned a long time ago, when you have to fight, find something to even the odds - heavy, blunt instruments work well.
AlphaLiberal said...
No doubt Limbaugh is offended at the "sissy" notion of not polluting. In Windbag's world, real men pollute!
Yes, we've seen how the Lefties don't pollute.
deborah said...
Just listened. Brava, Althouse, brava!
I'm fed up with phrases like 'throws like a girl' and 'crying like a little girl.'
Ladies, it's a guy thing. Much as I despise the phrase, all I can say is, "Live with it".
PS you are rocking that outfit.
The Blonde likes the leopard, too.
Alpha Liberal advances the progressive trend to demean people with addictions
After what Limbaugh said about Kurt Cobain and Jerry Garcia after they died, and all the other hypocritical bullshit Limbaugh has said of drug use in general, I feel zero empathy for the guy. Limbaugh said drug use is a choice, and he made the choice to meet his maid in the parking lot of Denny's to trade cigar boxes full of cash in exchange for thousands of illegal pain pills.
He raped one or two women in Sweden, apparently, according to Greta on Fox last night.
A sissy wouldn't do that. A psychopath, or a bully, might do that.
At any rate, I think Rush and you are right to hate this Assonge guy, but I prefer the term "weasel," except it's somewhat offensive to weasels to link this creep with an animal that doesn't choose its moral behavior.
They were talking about whether he could be gotten on treason, and the answer was no, since he isn't an American citizen. Why not just get him on the rape charges?
When they wanted Capone, they went after his tax records. This guy is vulnerable on the rape charges, so prosecute on those grounds.
Chickification isn't really sissification, two terms that Rush apparently sees as synonymous.
At any rate, the man is a criminal.
Sissies and chicks aren't necessarily criminals. Let's just call him a criminal and a rapist. Isn't that enough?
I think El Rushbo is as confounded by the Professor's circular reasoning skills as we can be at times. Yet she always makes her point in the end. It's that you have to listen to it all before starting to reply to where you guess she's going with this. Good luck Rush.
Moveon.org garage ;)
Move on.
A sissy wouldn't rape someone? Says who? Who says sissies aren't often bullies?
The cowardly may be particularly prone to lashing out at those weaker than themselves.
"Sissies and chicks aren't necessarily criminals. Let's just call him a criminal and a rapist. Isn't that enough?"
Well he could be a chick with a dick. They used to have them on the Robyn Byrd show all the time.
I bet AlphaLiberal has a few numbers you can call.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Assange is also, it would seem, a fool.
If you're extremely paranoid and think people are out to get you, as he thinks and as is probably right, you are a total moron to go sleeping with strangers.
Immoral (or amoral). "Sissy." And very very foolish.
Whattaguy.
Despite what Beth says, I think you should definitely call in and talk to him. Why not?
It would be great cross promotion like when the Green Hornet appeared on Batman and Bruce Lee kicked the crap out of Robin because he was such a sissy.
Oh wait a minute.....
Thank God Sissy Willis showed up to defend all the real Sissy's in the world. Good show.
Actually, a rape of whatever degree of non-consent, doesn't seem like a masculine thing at all. It seems more like insecurity, anger or else a sense of entitlement.
But really, Assange gets to decide really important stuff for the world, is it any surprise if he figured he got to decide for those women?
You did have him at a loss for words! Which indicates to me he was thinking, not just reacting or entertaining the audience. I liked hearing that happen, because it reflects a form of respect where business as usual and defensiveness stops for a "maybe, what if? why not?" kind of thought.
I enjoyed hearing him read through the comment, allowing Althouse's words to stand and be heard before adding his response.
One provocateur responding to another.
Watching Althouse hearing Rush discuss Althouse writing about Rush.
Like an infinity of mirrors or Koyaanisqatsi by Philip Glass; very nearly a perpetual motion machine.
Ann
I'm curious to know where you got the podcast.
You posted this before it went up on his website.
Wanna go for two, hotdog?
honeybunch...when cornered Rush resorts to the I'm an entertainer and when not he is a pundit.
why in God's name do you waste your time following this nitwit.
Is Rush's use of the word "sissy" in the same vein as when he used the word "retarded" and herd some sort of reprimand from Palin?
...Althouse was positively beaming when he [Rush] read her words.
Jealous much, 1jpb?
Prof. Althouse, IMHO, you're taking Rush much more seriously than he intends. Notwithstanding your laugh at him allegedly being at a loss for words (a lawyerly thing?), it makes you look like you don't have a sense of humor, which some people will find funny. My unsolicited advice to you: consider dropping your attention to this incident.
Rush is hearing impaired. I'm not sure Skype will work for him.
1) I know a guy, couldn't be more than 99 pounds, who was convicted of rape.
2) Ann, you're not selling womanhood - you're selling feminism - the bad stuff. You can't win this argument.
3) Rush on diavlog? Not a chance - he's too big for that.
4) What the man said was funny. You're digging yourself a hole by being one of those humorless scolds.
5) When are you going to get over this PC obsession with trying to control the way people express themselves?
6) If Rush is here, with us, he's hit the motherload of real American "progressive" (in the positive sense) thought.
7) Rush should be reading The Macho Response.
There's plenty of reason to associate weakness with women.
As there is for its opposite, nagging.
Women choosing the lesser risk where guys choose the greater risk, would be at the important root.
That doesn't sound close to the wikileaks situation, though.
The media aren't choosing the lesser risk, but rather pandering to their audience, which is chicks, who do.
I dont know the chronology of Times photographs of Asange but.. It looks like Asange uses Just for Men hair products..
So maybe he's not a sissy ;)
Rush is hearing impaired. I'm not sure Skype will work for him.
Rush talks on the phone with his audience five days a week.
As long as you're clear that there are also plenty of reasons to associate men with weakness and women with strength, we're in agreement.
I think 'pussyfication' is the more appropriate term.
But my first choice for a denigrating tag would be "stoat," because it's meaner sounding than ermine which has the advantage of being white.
Rush talks on the phone with his audience five days a week.
Real-time trascription, I believe.
Chip, you have an outstanding request in the freaky pillow thread.
"Ann. I'm curious to know where you got the podcast. You posted this before it went up on his website."
I subscribe to the podcast, and it comes up in iTunes.
I believe Rush employs someone who types what the callers say. Just like a court reporter does during a trial.
Professor, you might have to type what you say to Limbaugh, if you get him to do the bloggingheads tv. That shouldn't be hard if you used something like instant messaging.
WV: whing
I bet you can type like crazy.
It seems Rh and Crack are in tune on this "sissy" business..
Same with Trooper and Tradguy..
Being no sissy.. I guess I'm with them..
Wait a minute..
Rush does have a point.
Misandry in America is a serious problem, and is beginning to dominate everything in society.
Read the above link for an article that was also linked by Instapundit and Dr. Helen.
Rush has a headset made specifically for cochlear implants. Before the implants, he did have a real-time transcriptionist. Between the change in his pronunciation, and the delay between the caller's words and his response, it was obvious something wasn't right. He's back to his old talker form now.
wv: fixingio: what cochlear implants do
Rush said...
... I mean, look, to those of you who are offended by my description of Assange as a sissy, would you want him in the foxhole with you?...
No, but not because Assange is a sissy.
I don't want Assange in my foxhole because HE IS MY ENEMY.
"And then I'll just redouble my prodigious efforts."
I love your prodigious efforts.
Bet during WWII photo's of Nazi POWs similar to the Abu Graib shocking photos would have been no big deal.
The culture change from then to now might be called something other than "chickify" but that works too. How is that worse than "cowboy"?
Congratulations to blogger personality, Althouse, for engaging radio personality, Limbaugh, in a conversation about Assange, who is "merely an internet creation".
Um hm....
May I quote a famous chick in saying..."The sky is falling! The sky is falling!"
angel
Of course, the pill-popping Limblown is not overly sensitive about people hurting his feelin - I mean, offending his sensibilities.
"He doesn't want to engage an uppity gal in a conversation about the political correctness of "sissy" and "chickification." "
Is he a sissy? Is he chick(en)?
I don't think it's that so much as he's a bit too high rent for blogging heads. The other commenters are great,of course (with a few exceptions) but Rush is the king of radio, and to hobnob with the common folks would be beneath him. It would be like Louis Armstrong jamming with the guy on the subway playing trumpet for change (ok, Bloggingheads isn't that low rent!)
Also is there anything to even argue about? Everyone knows that the world and in particular, guys, have listened to women so much and bent backwards so much to not be chauvanists and not appear like brutes that they've started growing breasts and ovulating. THey're turning into pussies. It's not that he'd have a problem debating his point, but rather, it's so beyond debate that it's not worthy of engagement.
And assange is a milquetoast girly man with finely coiffed hair, a ninety eight pound weakling sissy.
Make it a fair fight and properly address the underlying kernel of truth in Rush's monolog by discussing the topic on Bloggingheads with Harvey Mansfield. Chickification is the other side of the Maniliness coin. Are you Man (or Chick?) enough to tackle the subject with Mansfield?
Doesn't Assange look like one of the guys from Queer Eye For the Straight guy?
don't know their names, but there's one particularly effeminate one with grayish blond hair and Assange could be his brother. And that guy isn't as much of a sissy either.
Well done!
If Rush is smart, by taking you up on your offer, he will be able to surmount this problem. If he doesn't, he is drawing a bright line that will impede the support of independents center and left of center who have thrown their weight to his arguments in the past.
The task is to disengage the stereotype of a fey person from a stereotype of one who lacks courage.
I heard Rush talking about you today -- only I came in seconds after he said 'Althouse' so I didn't know it was you. Being a 40 something engineer and mom of 4 girls, I get somewhat miffed at Rush's comments about women sometimes - but when it comes to 'chickification' I mostly agree with him - we are all becoming wussies. I disagree that it comes from women though - my pioneer female ancestors were anything but wussies. I think he should stick with 'wussification'.
I'd love to see Rush on Bloggingheads - but I don't think it's going to happen -- no profit for him in it.
Synova - "Of course... Koreans are also quaint brown people so if Assange really did reveal this and it really does destabilize an already unstable North Korea, it's only nameless, faceless brown people who die so..."
======================
Koreans are not "brown people" anymore than Japanese are.
They have higher IQs than most whites and their historical feat has been to maintain a high degree of autonomy and resist assimilation by either the Han Race and Yamoto Race. That is impressive.
The term "brown people" is exceptionally sloppy.
Arabs are as white as we are, if closer to Jews than other whites in ethnicity. Iran means "Aryan".
A good deal of the population of Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka have Aryan background.
And calling a white Mexican or Cuban or Chilean a "brown person" is ridiculous.
In fact, the idea of a "hispanic race" and "Pacific Islander" as an ethnicity - was garbage cooked up by two lawyers in the Nixon Administration trying to cook up EEO-1.
The Human Genome Project is tracing ancient and current DNA groups and who came from where and who ended up where currently living people are is fascinating stuff.
(Even as Japs learn there is no such thing as a true Yamoto Race, and true ME Jews learn their closest relatives are their Palestinian, Syrian, and Lebanese "cousins" (be they Chistian or Muslim) - and unmixed racially blacks - learn they missed two key brain mutations that most whites and Asians carry)
Does it seem like AssAngel is getting too much of our (justified) outrage?
Why don't Rush et. al. spend equal (or more) time blasting Bradley Manning?
Of course he's only accused, at this point. And, some folks speculate that he couldn't have done this by himself.
But still, the guy deserves more "refudiation."
deborah,
As long as you're clear that there are also plenty of reasons to associate men with weakness and women with strength, we're in agreement.
I think you meant that women are the weak ones.
Feminism, far from helping women, has actually forced women to enter situations where their inherent inferiority is exposed wide open.
There are many aspects of female inferiority that would never have been exposed had feminism not forced women into roles they were ill-suited for.
Suppose a 10-year-old is doing well in his 5th-grade class. Quick! Let's send him to college!! After he fails miserably and gets demoralized, you have exactly the same situation feminism has forced women into.
Dr. Helen writes about this all the time. I suspect that Ann and Dr. Helen would not remain cordial with each other for very long if the subject of misandry came up.
@Freeman
you are a total moron to go sleeping with strangers.
Exactly, he's embarrassing and/or pissing off govts that have no problem eliminating irksome people.
The way to mock Assange by name is to call him, "Assphage." Think about it.
Oh... c'mon Ann... Call Rush tomorrow and they'll put you right through. He probably already sent you an e'mail on this. His point was to offer affront to political correctness. It's like when I'm around my strongest and most self-assured women-friends I like to bring up repealing the 19th amendment (it sets them off into a fabulous tirade).
It's banter... it's the adult version tugging the hair of your crush in grade school.
Now stop being so logical and give it back to him rather than trying to be above the fray. lol
Why in the world are so many of us engaged with Althouse talking about Limbaugh talking about Assange being a "sissy"?
Is it because Limbaugh decided to talk about our hostess, Althouse?
Is it that we all like Althouse, and we know how happy she is that a conversation about Wikileaks has turned into a discussion that appears to be about and between Althouse and Limbaugh? *while we all watch*
Wikileaks latest information dump was a BIG deal to American international relations, but, as long as Althouse got her super-oxygenated air from Limbaugh...Maybe we assume she will have even more strength to lead us all into a discussion about...
Transparent? *** Confidential?
First Amendment? *** Treason?
Wikileaks was complaining about the site being hacked. How ironic, that wikileaks be attacked by their own.
With all due respects. Geez, talk about a narcissism test.
I find it funny how Rush and Anne sound so much alike. Love them both, but I get from all this a distinct sense of condescending, lecturing, self-righteous, self-regarding pedants arguing over nothing.
Surely that creep, Assange, deserves our scorn whether you call him a sissy or a terrorist matters little. It's bringing him down that matters, not defending your precious egos kids.
As you would say, Anne - think about it.
I believe Rush employs someone who types what the callers say.
An easy job; half of it's on function keys: Ditto! It's an honor, Rush! I agree! Yes. Uh huh. That's true!
Kmg, if you're going to grace us with your profundities, do us the courtesy of supplying some examples to back them up.
It's funny hearing Rush go on about foxholes. Oh well, it's just a metaphor.
Rush and Dr. Levin both use older (and hence less hurtful) insults to avoid being accused of violating FCC rules or being shock jocks. Levin uses dummy a lot and other trad insults.
Stronger insults would cause more complaints and right wing talkers get enough complaints just by existing.
Commie Faggot would work for JA but you can see the problems that that usage would cause.
You have a good point regarding Limbaugh's use of feminine imagery to describe Assange's behavior. It says more about Limbaugh than it does about Assange. (And Assange's behavior is, so far as I'm concerned, indefensible.)
But, Ann, it strikes me as strange that a person as intelligent and accomplished as you feels the need to post a video of yourself listening to Rush Limbaugh talk about you on his radio show. I suppose that it's another example of your "blogging as performance art" genre. But it's so disturbingly "Two Virgins."
I"d put Assangel more in the poor man's Chomsky category. Like a ballsy Robert Cook wiht more Columbine-like rage.
He's got a few ideals, and he fires away at the U.S. for not meeting them (in Assangel's case quite recklessly...with potential loss of life...more like a glorified hacker). Chomsky is partly an anarchist, and a philosophical idealist.
"sessect" A sssomewhat holy gggroup of Sssstutters
Althouse's interest in being talked about by Limbaugh is like people here occasionally talking about having commenter tags. (Yeah, I've got one.)
What’s wrong with standards of social behavior, Ann?
Rush Limbaugh, apparently, has different standards for men and women. He might, like many conservatives, believe that there are fundamental differences between the sexes which makes neither sex inferior. These are matters of character and behavior, not physical characteristics. Audie Murphy was small man, but no one doubted his bravery, honor, patriotism or his self sacrifice toward the greater good.
If Rush calls a man out as being womanly or a sissy, he is not insulting women. Rush is saying that the man is not living up to his social role.
We could discuss that social rile and its necessity. We could go back to Plato’s classification of people into Wolves, Sheep and Sheep dogs.
It is unclear to me if Assange is a Wolf or the most cowardly and confused kind of Sheep. Rush is guessing at the latter. He would probable say that Assange is over civilized and over protected in that he has no understanding of how dangerous human Wolves are. That Assange is playing a game far beyond his competence to handle.
In short, Rush’s comments were not about you females. It was a mistake to be so sensitives.
We men are often crude because life is rough, dangerous and deadly. The right kind of civilized man wants to protect the innocent from those hard facts of life. Assange is damaging the framework which keeps him and us from being harmed. He places himself on the side of the wolves, although the wolves would savage him in an instant.
Him being a "sissy" really has nothing to do with. Rush just hates what he did, and wants to attack. I understand completely. It's just appropriate anger combined with helplessness to affect what a truly evil little twerp has done.
"But, Ann, it strikes me as strange that a person as intelligent and accomplished as you feels the need to post a video of yourself listening to Rush Limbaugh talk about you on his radio show. I suppose that it's another example of your "blogging as performance art" genre. But it's so disturbingly "Two Virgins.""
It was a way to put the audio up. I didn't have the transcript yet. (That goes up later.) And I don't have a way of posting just audio on the blog. I realized that I could do it with video and get an effect pretty similar to what Rush gets when he plays audio clips and talks. The video is like his use of the webcam which is available to subscribers at his website.
Mainly, it was a way of listening to the material when I didn't have a written text and getting it up on the blog with my response.
But I thought it was also amusingly "meta" as deborah said in the second comment. It's funny that he said something, which I talked about, which he talked about, which I talked about. Very bloggy and new media, and that amusese me as a performance artist.
"Wikileaks...attacked by their own".
Humans...attacked by their own.
We do that here on Althouse, daily.
Professor,
This was extremely entertaining. Excellent job. I hope Rush sees it.
Oh, for the love of Pete. Cedarford!
I was being very sarcastic because it just pisses me off so much when the "caring class" treat people in other nations, particularly "non-Western" nations, as non-existent. I was not trying to express accurate genetic information but was making fun (in a serious way) of a repulsive attitude.
Synova 11/30/10 4:37 PM
And what he's doing is this sort of public theater that is all about how courageous he is, how brave, how robust.
The choices of insult is probably defined by that as much as anything else.
Bingo. Thread winner.
Ah hell: missed one. First runnerup was UrbanBard.
@Freeman
you are a total moron to go sleeping with strangers.
Exactly, he's embarrassing and/or pissing off govts that have no problem eliminating irksome people.
"He *Assange* places himself on the side of the wolves, although the wolves would savage him in an instant."
There are no wolves on the internet, silly. ;)
I love Rush and I really like you Ann but you voted for the One. I still like you. Rush is right about the chickification of our culture and I see it every day with those younger than 40. I shake my head when I see how wimpy these guys are.
Hey, did you listen to Rush prior to 2008? I can't imagine you did and still have voted for the One.
Heck Ann, if Rush won't debate you, I'd be happy to. Of course I'm no experienced legal-eagle or college professor (although I have taught Intro to Computers in years gone by), I am a Computer Engineer, have owned my own business for the past 28 years, am a retired AF/IANG officer, a Vietnam vet and I grew up in an era when men were still men rather than the many candy-asses I see running around today. I find it odd that the idea our boys and young men (hell, I know any number in their 30s) are being chickified is even being debated when it is so apparent.
So, there ya go – my gauntlet lies at your feet!
"So, there ya go – my gauntlet lies at your feet!"
Impressive!
So..um.. were you and your gauntlet thinking about heading north?
Penny - sure, why not, she' only 3 hours away or so. Could be fun - colder than hell right now, but fun! :)
I thought this idea of a video of Ann listening to Rush talk about Ann was lame, but when I watched and listened, it was excellent. Ann made some terrific points, and Rush should engage her in some fashion.
Hi. First time commenter, long time reader.
Must disagree with your contenntion that by insulting Assange via comparing him to women, Rish is thereby insulting women. Incorrect. Rush is [rightly] insulting men who are similar to women. Women are allowed to be womanly - that's no insult, it's a compliment. And men are allowed to be manly. The problem is when one sex takes on the attributes of the other.
One could only see his comments as insulting if one thinks there are no distinctions between the sexes. But that cuts right to the core of what Rush calls the "chickification" of the country.
I hope you grasp what I'm saying.
Apologise for my spelling before, not used to this. Anyway, I just noticed that "urban bard" makes substantially the same point I did, a few posts before mine.
It would be interesting to watch em go at it.
My money's on El RushBo
Ms Althouse you think way to highly of yourself, Rush LImbaugh is not going to waste another moment of his time on you, today was it, he responded and it is over. Now move along chick and go back to your job, whatever that is. OBTW as a woman, this Country has indeed been feminized in ways that have hurt little boys and that wimp who released classified documents is proof it is happening world wide!
Urban Bard has it right, methinks. In addition, Rush's tagline of 'Annoying the Left' would at least partially explain his use of the word 'sissy'. Not to insult women, but, to drive the PC crowd to leap and contort to the conclusion that it does insult women.
Oh, and the gratuitous comments with regard to cars and painkillers is sophomoric (not that there is anything wrong with being a sophomore, it is after all one step above being a lowly freshman :)
Rush's use of the term sissy in hardly new. He has rightly pointed out the feminization of American men for a long time. Rush knows men and women are different. The feminist attempts over the last 45 years to homoginize men and women would be tragic if it were successful. It is the differences between men and women that make our relationships grand and subsequently insure the continuance of our species.
That Assange is targeted as a sissy by Rush no way is a negative on women. It's merely a slap at Assange.
Alphadipshit...If the Nissan Leaf was produced by Government Motors, used Obama as a pitchman and was promoted as the Car of The Year by a leftist rag I'm sure Limbaugh would have mocked it too.
Althouse, get real, we know that women are more risk adverse than men and that is why we call weak cowardly men sissies, pussies, whatever. I agree with Rush about the chickification of our country. I blame all this political correction on chickification of our country, government, whatever.
Lets give Limbozo his first econ or stats test.
RL's merely another PT Barnum who happened to be in the right place at the right time.
Nicely said, UrbanBard.
Ann congrats -- going toe to toe with Rush and coming out the winner! I like Rush too but I like it that you're keeping him honest.
Let's give this some historical context, Ann.
Ages ago, when a village was attacked by outsiders, It was expected that all those who were incapable of fighting would flee. The most capable of the women and the elderly would shepherd the young and the feeble to safety. This task was considered no less vital than those who stood ready to die defending their people.
Any physically able male who fled with the women was considered “womanly or a sissy.” Any woman who stayed to fight would be considered exceptional, even if there was little she had the strength to do.
A villager who would lead the attackers in bypassing the village defenses would be considered an abomination. Assange gives “aid and comfort” to the enemies of civilization. Calling him womanly or a sissy is too kind. He is politically motivated scum.
Ann, you'll know you have habitation rights in Rush's cranium if you hear his building superintendent, Mark Levin, on the radio some night telling you to get off the lawn or he's going to call the cops.
So Ann, that would be a "No" on the debate idea then?? To bad, I think it could have been fun.
The gauntlet remains at your feet.
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