But then I skimmed the column and was amazed that Kristof had seen fit to appropriate the "Free at last!" exclamation — the last words of Martin Luther King Jr.'s sacred text: "we... will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: 'Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
In a week when Kendall Jenner got excoriated for appropriating "Black Lives Matter" to sell Pepsi,** why would Nicholas Kristof appropriate "Free at last!" to sell Hillary Clinton?
Talk about tone deaf — Pepsi never came out and said "Black Lives Matter." It watered BLM-ish protest down into demands for "love" and "start[ing] the conversation." Kristof lifts the slogan verbatim:
One gauge of Clinton’s new freedom is the simplest: her name... When she ran for United States Senate in New York she was Hillary Rodham Clinton, but her 2016 campaign book and ballot name downsized her to Hillary Clinton to avoid antagonizing traditionalists. Her Twitter page and website are still just Hillary Clinton — but after our interview we walked backstage together to sign a poster for Women in the World, and she scrawled: Hillary Rodham Clinton. Free at last!And I don't think Kristof meant that as cutting sarcasm. If he did, though, I'm laughing with him.
______________________
* This sentence should be recognized as employing the rhetorical device called apophasis.
** Last night's "SNL" made fun of the Pepsi debacle, here.
Posts
80 comments:
They do it because they are crackers.
"What would even mean for a person who is dishonest to her core to speak her mind?"
This Space for Rent. (Trump no longer resides here rent free.)
Hillary Free at last! Does that mean she will waive her speaking fee ?
Isn't this just the latest iteration of "if you just knew the real Hillary"?
We thought that might have finally ended, but I now see that even after she's dead her supporters will release things from her "private conversations" meant to bolster the notion that the people who didn't like her just didn't know her.
We know her. We don't like her. Move on.
Sacred text? To the left blacks are sacred objects. That's part of the problem.
The civil rights problem was getting the South to stop fucking around. Nothing sacred.
Sacred came later, from the left, to keep blacks from being free.
"Isn't this just the latest iteration of "if you just knew the real Hillary"?"
Kevin, m'boy, I think you are on to something.
When can we just be free of her?
Yes Hillary is free to speak her mind. She may have a 'public position' and a 'private position' but now no one will pay her a dime for either one.
She is the closest thing a human can be to a failed state.
Pro-D hacks in the media sure to adore their precious liar.
Her dad's name is totes less patriarchal than her husband's name.
The democrats have about two years to identify some people with the potential to be viable candidates against President Trump in 2020. So the more time and energy they spend on Hillary Hagiography the better.
re "sacred"
from OED:
4. a. transf. and fig. Regarded with or entitled to respect or reverence similar to that which attaches to holy things.
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. ccxlvij, In so sacred a senate [sc. the Council of Trent: L. in tam augusto conventu].
a1616 Shakespeare Taming of Shrew (1623) i. i. 174 Sacred and sweet was all I saw in her.
a1616 Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 1 (1623) iv. i. 40 He..Doth but vsurpe the Sacred name of Knight, Prophaning this most Honourable Order.
a1645 E. Waller At Pens-hurst ii. 26 Goe boye and carve this passion on the barke Of yonder tree, which stands the sacred marke Of noble Sidneys birth.
1656 A. Cowley Misc. 29 in Poems Poet and Saint! to thee alone are given The two most sacred Names of Earth and Heaven.
1712 R. Steele Spectator No. 456. ⁋3 There is something sacred in Misery to great and good Minds.
1757 T. Gray Ode I iii. i, in Odes 10 Ope the sacred source of sympathetic Tears.
1813 Shelley Queen Mab iv. 50 Ere he can lisp his mother's sacred name.
1842 R. Browning K. Vict. & K. Chas. 1st Yr. 11, Ay, call this parting—death! The sacreder your memory becomes.
1853 C. Brontë Villette II. xxi. 108 To a feather-brained school-girl nothing is sacred.
1863 N. Hawthorne Our Old Home II. 114 But the most sacred objects of all [at Greenwich Hospital] are two of Nelson's coats, under separate glass cases.
1878 R. W. Dale Lect. Preaching (ed. 3) ix. 292 To you America must be sacred as well as Judea.
After losing to Dubya in Florida Al Gore went and did something with his life.
He invented the weather.
What is Hillary going to do?
Now that her political career is over (fingers crossed), free at last would mean divorcing Clinton and being just Hillary Rodham.
Is she going to be the "New Nixon" or the "New Coke"?
When California secedes, it would probably legally go back to Mexico because the treaty in 1848 was with the US. This would solve the illegal immigration problem for a huge number of the people because 25% of illegal immigrants are in California. And HRC could run right now for President of California-when it-secedes. To be followed by a successful run to be President of Mexico-California. MexiCal would be her dream state - following all the globalist, US hating guidelines she believes in. Bankrupt, corrupt and empty of people - who would be sneaking across Death Valley to get into Utah rather than stay.
So is he saying she was always lying before? That's the implication.
Can we free more democrats?
L sacer, set apart.
Like segregation.
Did you know? The terms "reverend" and "doctor" cancel each other!
"sacred" meaning "largely plagiarized".
And guess what? Negroes don't own the phrase "free at last", which was just as popular, perhaps more popular, before King borrowed as afterwards.
"Her dad's name is totes less patriarchal than her husband's name."
I kept my maiden name both times I got married. My reason was mainly that I had always had that name, so it was firmly attached to my identity.
But I did like the idea of husband and wife having the same name and put some effort into trying to persuade the man who became my first husband — the one I had 2 children with — that we should both change our names and adopt one new name that we could share. I thought this was the best solution based on equality principles.
But what would be the name? Combinations of the 2 names were bad. Henhouse was comical. Altco seems like a corporation.
Are you going to just pick some name that's already a name, but not with any family history? Are you going to pick a word you like? Which one? Needs to be positive, but not so positive as Unicorn or Rainbow. Got to get some edge in there. Meet the Knifeblades.
I thought of the feminist idea of overcoming the patriarchy of family names by just going back to the last names of women in my family, my mother's maiden name, her mother's maiden name, etc. etc. — getting as many of those as I could find. And then, being an aesthete, choosing the name I liked best. I got it down to Hollacher and Battersea, which I thought were pretty cool names. I'd have picked Battersea, because Hollacher was too much like hall locker. But First Husband didn't like the name or (I think) the idea.
Kevin said...
Isn't this just the latest iteration of "if you just knew the real Hillary"?
It's like those Russian nesting dolls, or (cliche alert) peeling an onion. You unpeel one layer of dishonesty and corruption - and you find another, and another, and another. There's nothing else there. You don't suddenly find a diamond hidden away in the onion.
Alternative title: Hillary Doesn't Have to Lie anymore - But She Will"
No Lem, Al Gore arranged to tax the air you breathe, realizing a long-held Dumbocrat goal.
Hillary will still lie. But they will be free range lies.
"Pepsi never came out and said 'Black Lives Matter.'"
Be thankful for whatever you get.
Kristof has a very nice wife with a lot more sense than he has.
"Her dad's name is totes less patriarchal than her husband's name."
Prince Philip got his nose out of joint because Princess Elizabeth would not take his family name, Mountbatten, when they were married in 1947. She, or maybe her Dad, George VI, insisted she take the name Windsor, which goes all the way back to WWI. (So does Mountbatten, and anglicization of Battenburg.)
"Hillary, now that the election is over, you seem free, even rejuvenated. Would you agree with that assessment?"
"I certainly do. I won't lie to you: losing the election was heartbreaking. Especially since I won the Popular Vote. I take solace in that -- winning the Popular Vote. I had more votes. More people voted for me."
"That must be painful. How did you work through your grief?"
"I drank a lot of vodka. That's a joke: I can be funny now. People don't realize that I have a sense of humor. I drank a lot. See: that's funny. I had black-outs practically every night. Funny stuff."
"Is there anything you would have done differently?"
I would've asked a lot of undocumented immigrants in California to move to Wisconsin to vote. That would've helped."
"Are you being funny now?"
"Of course I am. That would've been unfair of me. Mexicans don't like the cold. See? Funny Hillary."
"Do you think America was not ready to have a female President?"
"I think that question answers itself. If America was ready, then I WOULD be President. But instead I just won the Popular Vote. It's always harder for a woman. You not only need the most votes, but you need them in the right places. The Glass Ceiling is thicker over some states."
"This might be a tough question to answer: do you regret describing a large portion of America as 'deplorables'?"
"I regret that I was so drastically misunderstood. That was funny Hillary: people didn't get that. I just thought it was a funny way to describe racists and misogynists. I understand: they are part of America, too. I should have made that more clear."
"Do you see yourself staying in Politics?"
"I'll always speak out for what I believe is best for America. But right now, I enjoy having the time to spend with my grandchild, and being able to get drunk at two in the afternoon. Again: that's funny Hillary. I'm fun. People don't get that."
"What is your relationship like with Huma now?"
"I won't lie to you: it was tough for a while. It's hard when your best friend loses your election for you."
"You believe Huma was part of the reason for your loss?"
"To be honest: yes. She made mistakes. In fact, she married one. Ha Ha: funny Hillary. I think America just wasn't ready for a woman like her to be so close to a President."
"People have talked about your closeness with her..."
"Ahhh: the Right Wing Rumor Mill. Of course Huma and I are lesbians. Ha. Seriously: anytime two women with problematic husbands are close, people assume they are lesbians. We're not lesbians, we just like to have sex with each other."
"Are you being funny again?"
"Of course I am. I'm Fun Hillary. I'm corrupt drunk lesbian Fun Hillary. Who had Vince Foster killed."
"You know, sometimes people make jokes to hide sad truths..."
"Oh, don't be so serious. I have nothing to hide: I'm not a crook. You won't have Hillary to kick around anymore..."
"Uh... I think those are quotes from Richard Nixon..."
"Ha! Funny Hillary again! Free at last: God Almighty, free at last..."
I am Laslo.
MLK's dream speech isn't sacred to progressives. They hate it. It contradicts everything they stand for. They don't want to judge people by their character. They want a racial spoils system that favors them. When was the last time you heard about freedom from these people? They don't want freedom they want the others on their knees.
Hillary's been rebooted more than a machine running Windows 95
"why would Nicholas Kristof appropriate "Free at last!" to sell Hillary Clinton?" Cuz libs have no shame.
She's free at last to show she's phony all the way down.
Doesn't "Free At Last" mean you're dead?
What is wrong with cultural appropriation? This is how we progress. If there was no such thing as cultural appropriation there would be no silk stockings, cotton shirts, paper books, music, movies etc. The list goes one and on. We would all be still just banging rocks together as tools and eating grubs.
Pretending to BE another culture or person, like Rachel Dolezal is one thing. Picking and choosing the best or most attractive elements of many cultures and adding it to your own toolkit of culture, is a fabulous idea. Having something chosen from your culture to be appropriated should be taken as a compliment.
Anymore, with our world wide web, communication that is instantaneous and ability to move from one part of the world to another at any time.....cultural segregation is vanishing. As it should. While some pockets of various cultures may remain segregated, the world is moving to a more 'world wide' culture that contains parts from many cultures.
Although...I can do without some culturally appropriated items. Hawaiian Pizza is one of those things.
If Hillary started speaking freely she'd get whacked.
One of the side benefits of Trump winning.is that I never have to hear the screatching godawful sound of Hillary's voice again.
Trump never considered the possibility that he was not free to speak his mind contributing, I believe, to his victory.
Hillary's been rebooted more than a machine running Windows 95
I ran Windows95 until 2008 or so and it was okay. It would auto-fail every 45 days owing to some clock overflow but otherwise stayed up 24/7.
I've had XP up for over a year at a time.
They're all pretty stable if you're a creature of simple web habits.
Now Hillary is free to say out loud that she thinks all guns should be illegal.
As usual , Sunday morning reading from the the Althouse Bible - the NYT. Usually they are supplemented with beautiful scenes of nature to cleanse the soul. All nothing but words, words, and more words which is all you have when you really have nothing to add.
Dust Bunny Queen:
"What is wrong with cultural appropriation? This is how we progress. If there was no such thing as cultural appropriation there would be no silk stockings, cotton shirts, paper books, music, movies etc. "
The other night I went to a ballet, La Sylphide, which is set in the Scottish Highlands. One of the kilt-clad male dancers was black - the only black on stage. Hell, he was the only black in the building except for a couple of ushers. If it's wrong for white guys to sing blues songs, isn't it also wrong to have a black male ballet dancer in a kilt? What about Yo Yo Ma? Shouldn't he be limiting himself to playing traditional Japanese music? Or does "cultural appropriation" only go in one direction?
"Or does "cultural appropriation" only go in one direction?"
Yes. The proof is trivial and left to the reader as an exercise.
Well done, Laslo. Of course.
“Certainly misogyny played a role” in her loss, she said. “That just has to be admitted.”
Does that include the treatment of Sarah Palin by Obama and his minions? If yes, how could you in good conscience work with Obama? If not, explain why misogyny only arises when you are running for office.
She noted the abundant social science research that when men are ambitious and successful, they may be perceived as more likable.
And ignored the very recent experiment where a woman adopted the Trump persona and a Man played the Clinton role. Readers may recall the interesting result.
Clinton characterized the mind-set (sic) of some Trump voters as, “I don’t agree with him, I’m not sure I really approve of him, but he looks like somebody who’s been president before.”
That comment alone explains her lost to Trump more than any other excuse offered by any of the usual suspects. Never mind the paranoid secretiveness, the money-grubbing and influence peddling, the scofflaw highhandedness. This chick is just plain stupid.
Clinton noted that when she stepped down as secretary of state, she had an approval rating of 64 percent and was one of the most popular public officials in America.
Has she ever considered the fact that same polling firms that gave her that 64% approval rating also predicted she'd win handily on November 8th with 338 votes, even right up to the evening of November 7th? Nope. Evidently not. Stupid is as stupid does.
And she noted that whether or not there was collusion, there certainly was a concerted Russian effort to rig the American election.
Without citing any evidence of same. I am intrigued that Mizz Hillary didn't bother to deny the truth of the content of those emails, nor did she explain why a voter should be more concerned about supposed Russian hacking than the arrogant corruption that supposed hacking revealed. Perhaps Mizz Hillary is just too stupid to countenance the damage she does to other Democrats when she invokes the vast rightwing conspiracy meme, or its latest mutation, the Reds under our beds neo-McCarthyite spiel. However, its a familiar pattern isn't it?
Clinton said she was working on a book about her campaign and wrestling with why so many women — including 53 percent of white women voters — supported Trump.
The feminist position is roughly women are smart, as least as smart as men if not smarter. Either the feminist proposition is true, meaning they chose wisely. Or it is not true, and they were foolish. Either way, it reflects badly on Clinton as a candidate. She was stupid to cloak her politics in feminist rhetoric and assumptions, Bill tried to tell her so and was stubbornly rebuffed for his trouble. It appears she still hasn't figured it out. Imagine Kim Jung-Un vs President Panzoot. Black comedy at its finest.
Snowflakes may hate Trump for demolishing their My Little Pony world so brutally, but they should reflect on the alternative. America is still a republic because the voters are not as malleable as the political elite surmise.
Yes, Hillary has spoken her mind at last, and how brief it was.
Kristof is paid to write agitprop according to what the party line requires that day.
He is just one pipe in the organ. If you want to know what he means, listen to all the music coming from the instrument, not just one part. Then it is all clear.
Why can't the Clintons just go away?
Along the lines of the MLK quote, has anyone reflected on what is happening with the violent harassment of speakers on college campuses ?
The crowds started gathering around my speaking location and the guest suite where I had been hustled after arriving on campus at around 4 pm, chanting “fuck the police,” “hey hey ho ho racist cops have got to go,” “no justice no peace, no racist police.” The estimated crowd size at that point was about 200; it would eventually grow to around 300. Students were sitting on the stairs underneath my balcony plotting their strategy: “we need more people up here” “some of you go back,” I heard them say. I saw a girl go by with her face covered with a Palestinian style head scarf, wearing a loudspeaker on her back. I saw a lookout about 40 yards away so I didn’t feel that I could spend much time looking out over the balcony. The protesters surrounded all the doors to the Atheneum where I was supposed to speak, so none of the students who had signed up to attend my lecture could get in.
Is this what colleges are turning into ? Does the left want to die on this hill today ?
College enrollment, at some of these campuses, is sharply declining.
Why would a parent send a kid to Claremont if that is the atmosphere? I looked at the video at the Powerline link and those are white and Asian kids chanting.
Is this Hillary's America ?
Or does "cultural appropriation" only go in one direction?
Bingo.
Many years ago my college roommate and his girlfriend accompanied me and my S.O. to the Grandfather Mountian Highland games. I attended regularly to hobnob with my clansmen and the son of the then chief, the Countess of Erroll (yes, women can be clan chiefs), but my roomie Howard, being a Swede had never been to such an event. While touring around we saw many pipers tuning and rehearsing, including a black guy dressed in the tartan of Clan Munro. Howard was a wit, and could not resist a quip, even if non-PC. He turned to me and pointing discretely at the Munro said, "Is that what you call a Highland jig?"
Speaking her mind about the deplorables is probably what cost her the election.
Tap dancing which people assume to be a part of Black culture...is actually an appropriation from Irish and Scottish step dancing and clog dancing traditions
Irish Step Dancing you don't here us complaining about it.
"Isn't this just the latest iteration of "if you just knew the real Hillary"?"
Yes, but that's a good thing. Flogging dead horses is about all that remains to the Left these days.
Flogging dead horses is about all that remains to the Left these days.
To flog a horse first catch it.
Given their median age, dead horses are the only horses they can catch.
Another way to read Kristof is that Hillary scrawled "Free at last!" under her name on the poster.
Martin Luther King Jr in Heaven...
Heaven is nice: it doesn't matter what color you were, because here in Heaven we're all White. I have to admit: that bothered me a bit at first, but then I figured who am I to argue with God...?
Still: what a kick it would've been if God was a Brother: imagine all the White Folks getting up to Heaven and going "Awwwww Shit...."
I watch what happens down on Earth from time to time, but only for brief moments: man, it is depressing down there. People say my words, then do the damn opposite with their actions. Jesus, he tells me it happens to Him all the time, so I feel a little better: I tell you, that Jesus is one patient White Dude...
Know what IS a surprise up Here? I hang out a lot with James Earl Ray: who woulda thought? At least James took my words seriously enough to shoot me, you know? Everyone else, they just acted like I wrote fucking Hallmark cards or something...
James, he has cleaned up his act a lot up Here: he only says 'nigger' now when he is telling 'nigger' jokes. Now that I'm not black no more I have to say: some of them ARE pretty funny...
I asked one of the Saints why God made some men black: was there some great Purpose? Turns out God wanted to Create the Blues, and there was no way some White Man was going to pull THAT off...
I am Laslo.
He turned to me and pointing discretely at the Munro said, "Is that what you call a Highland jig?"
++++++++++++
No, just a member of the Black Watch
“Certainly misogyny played a role” in her loss, she said. “That just has to be admitted.”
She means the misogyny perpetrated against Monica which was never forgotten.
Laslo,
Good point about MLK and the hallmark cards.
US education today is pretty much a lot of hallmark cards, plus AP Calc.
"She is the closest thing a human can be to a failed state."
HAAAAAA! That is perfect.
The corollary to Clark's comment at 10:41:
Pace Bob Boyd, she was always free to speak her mind. Almost half the country would have voted for her anyway. Probably more independents would have if she hadn't seemed so calculated and scripted.
I've always believed in her heart of hearts she'd have run as a liberal and proud of it. But she triangulated, positioned herself as the center-left candidate, and was shocked when the base liked Bernie Sanders better.
And maybe the one from-the-heart moment we got was a plaintive, "Why aren't I fifty points ahead, you might ask?!"
The real question is: Why does anyone care what Hillary Clinton has to say about.....well...anything?
I literally laughed out loud when I read the part about change back to Hillary Rodham Clinton. I reread it just now- I am 100% certain Kristof wasn't making a sarcastic remark with that- it wouldn't fit with the rest of the piece.
And to the commenter above who pointed out that Kristof's piece is an unintentional admission that Clinton spent the campaign lying her ass off- yes, it is. Even worse, as I read the interview itself, I didn't detect any changes at all in Clinton's openness. But for the sudden switch back to using her maiden name, what changed?
Why would you quote MLK to pimp a woman whose husband killed a brain-damaged black man to win an election?
When and why was she ever not free to speak her mind?
I'm sorry, I couldn't make it past "sacred text", AA's OED citation notwithstanding....
I abhor the left's cult of personality for people they like. I work in the IT of the largest school district in my state, and when I go out to schools, I am amazed at all the quotes from St. MLK posted on the walls. Don't get me started on "Dr."
When you read MLK's speeches, there is much that is great and wise. But Epictetus and Schopenhauer have had a greater influence on my life and thinking than MLK.
"Free at last" is really Bill's line.
Hillary's personal sense of entitlement has not expired, if she thinks she was cheated out of a Presidency which was rightfully hers. If she can convince the Big Money of this, then it doesn't bode well for the Dems in 2020.
I would like to know the real story of Hillary, but all we'll ever get are the most attractive lies that plausibility allows. It will be decades before the real story of the Clintons and their marriage will be told.......The Empress Josephine cheated on Napoleon quite openly when he was just another general. After he became Emperor, she remained faithful. She was faithful to him even after he divorced her. It's easier for women to be faithful to power than to mere men......Some of the story of FDR and Eleanor has leaked out. FDR betrayed her in every possible way. He even used their daughter to arrange his assignations. Eleanor perceived that as an extra twist of the knife. Still, she remained loyal to him or, rather, to the power that emanated from him for all their days, and she's now buried beside him.
It would be interesting to know what Hillary Clinton believes, if anything. But, even if she has no political ambitions for herself, she apparently has dreams of Chelsea running for office. So she'll have to maintain the correct facade.
Hillary is not going to be involved in the Clinton Foundation, she's announced. When the foundation is disbanded, we'll know that Chelsea has decided not to get into politics. Maybe Hillary will speak her mind then -- but who will be listening?
tcrosse,
I think all but certain she plans to run again. I think Michelle Obama will be forced to run just to stop Hillary! from getting the nomination.
I think she either plans to run again herself, or even better, plans to run Chelsea as her proxy
I think she either plans to run again herself, or even better, plans to run Chelsea as her proxy
Rather than campaign in Wisconsin herself, she sent Chelsea as her proxy. Brilliant.
You could have hyphenated. Though Henhouse-Altco sounds like the result of an ill-advised corporate Ag merger.
Kristof: When she ran for United States Senate in New York she was Hillary Rodham Clinton, but her 2016 campaign book and ballot name downsized her to Hillary Clinton to avoid antagonizing traditionalists.
No, Nick. Hillary dropped the Rodham because she ran as Clinton 2 — she hoped to ride back into the White House on Bill's coattails.
A real feminist would never drop her maiden name.
Hillary is not even an authentic feminist.
Chelsea? Forget it. democrat voters haven't been that dumbed down yet. She doesn't even have phony accomplishments yet.
Isn't it cultural appropriation when Arabs sell oil from oil wells invented and installed by Europeans? Shouldn't they celebrate their own culture by riding camels over the desert sands, and ... whatever else they used to do before they appropriated the Europeans' oil well culture?
Chelsea? Forget it. democrat voters haven't been that dumbed down yet.
Don't be too sure. She hasn't gotten her Nobel Prize yet.
Anthony- What good is hyphenating a name? How many hyphens would the kids want?
Sometimes I think last names should be matrilineal. That way, there would be fewer misattributions.
I am just reading about it, but she must be exhausted by her efforts to dodge responsibility and constantly reinvent herself.
FryingPanHead: "Chelsea? Forget it. democrat voters haven't been that dumbed down yet. She doesn't even have phony accomplishments yet."
I guarantee within the next several years she will be inundated with literary, academic, media and other institutional awards.
I fully expect an Oscar for the Spoken Word, some sort of UN thing for something or other (for foreign policy "cred"), etc
The media will never stop trying to Make Chelsea Happen!
Sorry, folks. She's even less polished and likeable than her mother, if that's possible. And since she's no blood to William Jefferson Blythe, no chance of inheriting the particular gene for politicking.
Post a Comment