"Joy and pleasure are as real as pain and sorrow and one must learn what they have to teach. . . ." -- Sean Russell, from Gatherer of Clouds

"If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right." -- Helyn D. Goldenberg

"I love you and I'm not afraid." -- Evanescence, "My Last Breath"

“If I hear ‘not allowed’ much oftener,” said Sam, “I’m going to get angry.” -- J.R.R. Tolkien, from Lord of the Rings

Sunday, October 29, 2006

More on Dumb

TBogg alerted me -- again -- to the latest from much too long interview with Camille Paglia. The money quote again:

The Democrats have to start fresh and throw out the entire party superstructure. I was bitterly disappointed after voting for Ralph Nader that he didn't devote himself to helping build a strong third party in this country.

If she hasn't figured Ralph Nader out by now. . . . Well. Maybe she, Nader, and Joe Lieberman should form the "It's All About Me" Party. I'm sure that would have some resonance somewhere.

TRex also takes her on over at Firedoglake.

Completely missing from the major media's avalanche of formulaic liberal outrage was any reference to the gay-male practice of cruising, which is constantly going on with indefatigable energy virtually everywhere in the industrialized world. Rock star George Michael's arrest in a Hollywood public toilet in April this year was quickly suppressed by the major media and given significant coverage in the United States only by the tabloids. Despite the recent turn by some gay male writers toward reexamination of gay hedonism, the issue remains unconfronted by gay organizations and their media supporters, who dismiss or deride Christian conservatives' claim that there is a negative "gay lifestyle."


She then goes on to spout a bunch of hateful crap about how if Matthew Shepard hadn't been out cruising for sex, he'd still be alive. But see, in Paglia's "mind", this is the inherent state of gay men, perpetual and uncontrollable erotic arousal.


What I don't understand is why people keep listening to self-appointed "cultural critics" who are demonstrably out of touch, ignorant, and not very smart to begin with.

I begin to understand "bloviate" on a deep, almost visceral level.

Gavin, at Sadly, No!, has a list of money quotes.

I remember reading Paglia's pronouncements years ago and thinking then that she was full of shit. I can't see any reason to change that opinion. My point then was that if you're going to call yourself a "cultural critic," which she was doing at that point, you have to be able to step out of your culture to look at it. She's not. She's like an academic Ann Coulter -- same stance, she just uses longer words.

Of course, there are those who think she's right on target. Which only proves what a wide range of meanings "think" has.

It seems very odd to me that there are so many people out there who do not ask questions. They just suck it all in, even when the source is an obvious idiot. Even when we've seen what six years of not asking questions has done to us.

I'm sure Paglia has a high IQ. I'm equally sure that she's So. Out. There.

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