The Other McCain

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‘I Feel As If I’m in a Surreal Swedish Movie Being Threatened by Bizarre Trolls’

Posted on | December 7, 2010 | 31 Comments

No, this has nothing to do with Barrett Brown. Rather, the quote is from Mark Stephens, lawyer for Julian Assange, describing his feelings at attempting to get his client off the hook for his not-entirely-consensual hook-ups with two Swedish socialist women.

The same quote would also fairly describe my surprise at finding none other than Amanda Marcotte accusing me of being “pro-rape” in the comments of last night’s post about Assange.

Also, Tommy Christopher condescends to notice me. Not in a good way.

Before we go wading into that troll-infested argument, however, let’s pause to consider a remarkable fact: Interpol is now issuing warrants for men who fail to wear condoms.

Perhaps Julian Assange should convert to Catholicism and ask the Pope to testify on his behalf.

OK, now that I’ve added Catholics to the long list of people who hate me today, let’s just go ahead and offend everyone else: George Bush had it all wrong. Instead of claiming that Saddam Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction, he should have instructed the CIA to gin up evidence that Saddam refused to wear condoms, at which point Amanda Marcotte would have demanded an immediate invasion of Iraq.

The good news: A British judge has denied Julian Assange bail, which means he won’t be free to keep leaking U.S. national security secrets on the Internet.

The bad news: A British judge has denied Julian Assange bail, which means some other poor shmuck will now have to satisfy the twisted carnal cravings of Swedish socialist women.

More good news: The Left is thrust onto the horns of a dilemma, forced to choose between conflicting principles of feminism and anti-Americanism.

More bad news: This has given Naomi Wolf an excuse to write a column.

In such a storm of controversy, by what lights should a conservative steer? Simple enough: Find out what side of the argument Andrew Sullivan has taken, and get on the other side.

A useful reality-check from Greenwald. I have to say the coincidence of these strange sexual charges and the ire of so many governments is extremely convenient, don’t you think? It’s like a movie. And no bail? Assange is on the road to underground hero status.

The old conspiratorial “question the timing” mood, eh? Perhaps this entire plot against Assange has been contrived by that notorious arch-villain, Sarah Palin’s uterus.

Well, Amanda Marcotte is in my comments. You perhaps remember Marcotte as having helped coin the immortal slogan, “Vote for Edwards, Godbag Christofascists!” And you remember how Senator Edwards — so loyal and courageous and committed to True Feminist principles — defended Marcotte.

Or perhaps you remember something else entirely.

Yet it is Julian Assange who is an “underground hero,” while I remain a very above-ground villain, even though I’ve never been to Stockholm and haven’t slept with any Swedish socialists. Nor have I fathered any illegitimate children with campaign aides while cheating on a cancer-stricken wife.

Obviously, I am unworthy of Amanda Marcotte’s respect.

Wait a minute: It seems self-evident that John Edwards didn’t use a condom whilst demonstrating his potential as a “transformational leader” to Rielle Hunter. Why is Amanda Marcotte denouncing me instead of John Edwards?

The phrase that seems to have particularly offended the feminist furies is when I said of these Swedish women who hooked up with Assange — and of other such women rather generally — “Listen up, sweetheart: You buy the ticket, you take the ride.”

Perhaps the literary allusion went flying right over their pretty little heads, for it was indeed an allusion to a frequent saying of a certain famous journalist, a phrase that became the title of a documentary about his life and work:

While I’ve never seen that particular film, I reviewed another documentary about Hunter S. Thompson, and pointed out that Thompson’s involvement with the Hell’s Angels highlighted “several crucial elements of the gonzo persona, including Thompson’s daredevil attraction to danger”:

While covering the bike gang, he began riding motorcycles himself, totaling his BSA 650 in a wreck that sent him and a passenger to the hospital. Immersing himself into the outlaw culture, Thompson also managed to get himself badly stomped by a group of Angels at a weekend party.

The phrase “buy the ticket, take the ride” (from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) is subject to interpretation, but certainly it has something to do with accepting the potentially painful consequences of thrill-seeking. If you rode with the Hell’s Angels, for example, that ride might end in a brutal stomping, for which you had no legal recourse. You chose the outlaw life and unless you were willing to wage war on the entire gang — a war that could only end in your own painful death — there was nothing you could do, no court of appeals to hear your complaint that you had been unfairly stomped.

You bought the ticket. You took the ride.

No refunds. No complaints.

Well, flash-forward to Nerf World 2010, where overprivileged children expect all the sharp corners of life to be foam-padded so that no one ever gets hurt, no matter what foolish choices they make. And when I try to point out that life doesn’t actually work that way, I find Amanda Marcotte in the comments accusing me of believing that “men have a right to rape a woman who consented to sex at some other point in time under different conditions.”

Ms. Marcotte, where did I assert the existence of any such “right”? Is it not obvious that there are some situations that do not lend themselves so easily to an argument about “rights”?

That’s how it goes in Nerf World 2010, while the children bounce around painlessly and yet complain constantly about minor irritations or anxieties. Julian Assange releases national-security secrets — with potentially disastrous consequences for the U.S. and its allies — and what do the kids in Nerf World complain about? Bloggers who criticize their feminist diatribes about Assange’s Swedish sexcapades.

Never mind. Tommy Christopher requests (and receives) comment from Jill Filipovic:

This isn’t really new material. “She was asking for it because she went out with him / wore a short skirt / flirted / had sex with him before / went to that party / kissed him / etc” is such an antiquated and tired justification for rape that I’m almost more offended by the lack of creativity and hoariness of it than I am by the actual content (almost).  Although I will say that ”Listen up, sweetheart: You buy the ticket, you take the ride” is new and interesting phrasing from someone who also says he isn’t a misogynist rape apologist.

Got that? To say that these women were in some substantial measure victims of their own stupidity is the same thing, in Ms. Filipovic’s mind, as saying: “She was asking for it because she . . . wore a short skirt.”

This is the straw-man argument near the bottom of the slippery slope of false analogies down which the feminist habit of framing every question in terms of “rights” has led us. Let us stipulate, insofar as any discussion of “rights” is concerned, that women have the right to wear short skirts, flirt, have sex, kiss guys, etc.

People have the right to do many things, but arguing about “rights” is a poor substitute for deciding what is wise and counseling others to pursue the course of action that wisdom would suggest.

Once upon a time, before we had intellectuals with blogs to hector us constantly about “rights,” wisdom was expressed in folk sayings and proverbs like, Lie down with dogs, wake up with fleas.

In Nerf World 2010, however, there can be no common-sense wisdom to guide our actions. Rather, we do whatever the hell we want to do, and then call the cops or sue somebody if we don’t like the outcome.

What our intellectuals tend to have in common is that they have carefully avoided the kind of life-or-death situations where people stop worrying about their “rights” (or anybody else’s rights, for that matter) because they’re too busy worrying about survival.

No, the intellectuals make a point of staying within the foam-padded confines of Nerf World where they never have to cope with the potentially lethal consequences of the elaborate theories of “social justice” they invent to justify the overturning of every restraint that common sense, ancient wisdom or well-established legal precedent might impose on human conduct.

Question their theories, however, and you’re a “rape apologist” (or some other toxic pejorative like “racist” or “homophobe”) who can be accused of making arguments you never made and endorsing actions you never endorsed. That’s how the game is played by the intellectual hall monitors in Nerf World, where I’m obviously a far greater menace to society than Julian Assange or John Edwards or even Osama bin Laden.

Well, I didn’t begin this extended rant expecting to take that long detour. All I’d originally intended to do was to (a) link the most recent Assange-related news from Memorandum, and (b) combine it with a link to an essay I’d posted earlier today at the Hot Air Green Room.

My post here last night about Assange’s Swedish sexual assault case was obviously badly argued, otherwise it would not have provoked confusion among some  conservative regular readers. (The confusion of liberals requires no explanation because they’re always confused, otherwise they wouldn’t be liberals.) So, while driving around on errands today, I decided to clarify my thoughts on the Assange case in a better argument. And it happened that my mind turned to a quote about rape from a certain famous journalist.

“Nothing catches an editor’s eye like a good rape.”
– Hunter S. Thompson, Hell’s Angels (1966)

So now go read the whole thing. Buy the ticket, etc.

UPDATE: Linked at Dyspepsia Generation, and an e-mail from a reader:

I Googled the “Sex by Surprise” charges against Mr. Assange. He may be in jail now but these charges do not really warrant jail time in Sweden or really, anywhere else. Aparently “Sex by Surprise” is when you don’t wear a condom during sex when your partner asks you to. It carries a 5000 Kornor fine or roughly $715. Just to put this in perspective, Julian Assange went into hiding and sparked an international manhunt in order to avoid paying the equivalent of a really bad traffic fine. Either this is a really bad publicity stunt or just facepalm stupid. The best we can hope for is that the Justice Dept. asks Sweden to extradite Mr. Assange to face extradition charges here. I’m not betting on that happening.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Edward, R.I.P.

UPDATE II: Jill Filipovic and Amanda Marcotte to Denounce Keith Olbermann in 3, 2, 1 . . .

UPDATE III: Welcome, Instapundit readers!

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Category: Crime, Great Britain, Sweden, WikiLeaks

Comments

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  • http://www.facebook.com/jeff.weimer Jeff Weimer

    Jeez, Stacy, you’re on a Rule 4 roll these past few days.

  • mojo

    “No bail?”

    For a guy with a demonstrated habit of being hard to find? You betcha.

  • dr kill

    I hate to agree with Sullivan, but as I refuse to read the Atlantic on general principles (mine) I’ll take your word for it.

    But damn if it don’t all seem so convenient.

    And if no condom is a felony they best be building a bigger prison. After all, how did Sullivan become HIV+ ? Maybe we should forget about the Southern border and just fence off the DC.

  • jefferson101

    Yeah, it’s ludicrous on it’s face. But it’s their country, their laws, and their problem.

    Hint to anyone who needs it. Sex Tourism in Sweden is probably not a good vacation plan.

    I’m not sure whether my humor regarding the charges is greater than my schadenfreude about who it is happening to or not, but I’m actually loving it.

    It couldn’t happen to a nicer person.

  • K~Bob

    Yeah Andrew, an underground hero. Just like Benedict Arnold.

  • Anonymous

    Hey, at least Benedict Arnold stayed bought. You can’t say that about Sully.

  • jefferson101

    Assange wouldn’t stay bought, which is probably his problem with the Swedes, actually.

    They accommodated him in every way, and he still messed with them. So they are getting some payback.

    Hey….I don’t care if they prosecute him for failing to squat when he took a whiz. The enemy of my enemy, and whatnot….

    You go, Lars!

    Bawahahahahaha!

  • http://powip.com vermontaigne

    So, he was set up, but he raped a woman by not using a condom. That’s a puzzler, but the liberal brain works in strange and mysterious ways.

  • http://twitter.com/xRedRoverx Kristi

    Mr. McCain, you are a male chauvanist pig. Unfortunately for the human species you are correct in your observations most of the time. Your antics are highly amusing in any case. Rock on.

  • JeffS

    Amanda Marcotte is a man hating feminazi (but I repeat myself) who spends more time fretting over imagined slights and problems than real ones. I think she tolerates males only because someone has to clean the toilets. In any case, she is a One Issue Leftie: 21st Century feminism.

    Her obsession with John Edwards, who is a bigger panderer than any other recent Presidential candidate, demonstrates this. He certainly didn’t ask her to join his campaign because of her intellect, I’m sure.

    In any case, I’d view the lack of respect from Amanda as a badge of honor.

    As for you being hassled about your comments concerning Assange and his sexual “crimes” charge…..hear hear!

    I’m of the school that rapists should be subject to capital punishment. But the charges against Assange appear to be Swedish centric, i.e., the product of social engineering by clueless and unfettered lefties. Actual, forcible rape (by whatever means) may or may not be involved in this situation……but it’s clear that the women involved walked into the relationship with both eyes open.

    Getting a one night stand when looking for a “meaningful relationship” is sad, but that’s what happens when one is promiscuous.

    Caveat emptor may be a philosophy soundly rejected by most lefties, but it’s a rule of thumb that works in the real world.

  • JeffS

    Ummmmm…..I should clarify. When I say “hear hear!”, I’m supporting your comments, Stacy. I realized that this might be construed by comprehension impaired readers (e.g., Amanda and her supporters) as the opposite.

  • Pingback: Jill Filipovic and Amanda Marcotte to Denounce Keith Olbermann in 3, 2, 1 . . . : The Other McCain

  • http://twitter.com/vjmfilms Victor Morton

    We are listening to lectures on sexual morality (or any form of morality, or anything about sex, or anything really) from someone who publicly screamed that she would fuck/contracept/abort purely to spite those who think she shouldn’t?

  • Jeff

    “Before we go wading into that troll-infested argument, however, let’s pause to consider a remarkable fact: Interpol is now issuing warrants for men who fail to wear condoms.”

    Interesting that all it takes is someone disagreeing with you to count as a troll. Doesn’t matter that most of the comments were from non-anonymous people with perfectly valid accusations. You simply disagree with them, therefore making them all trolls and unworthy of your time! What a neat little trick.

    “Interpol is now issuing warrants for men who fail to wear condoms.”

    Ahh yes, it’s the selective, biased statements like these that make your arguments so loaded. Doesn’t matter that that’s not at all what happened, nor is it what he is accused of, that isn’t important to you, you’ve already staked out your claim that a man should have full rights to a womans body once she has agreed to some sort of sex.

    Doesn’t help your case when the people agreeing with you use offensive and useless terms like “feminazi”, but your case was barely there to begin with. Oh wait, I’m a liberal so therefore my brain is addled. Boy, it must be hard to engage in reasoned discussion when you automatically assign qualities to your opponents undeservedly.

  • http://pointofagun.blogspot.com/ Dave C

    Much like your comment just now.

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/EU5DQWQTTHTPO4A4ZYSL3AAV2U Adjoran

    Objectively speaking, Jeff is obviously an idiot.

    Yeah, I know – call me a hater.

  • http://twitter.com/marriedrambler Andrew Patrick

    It’s always fun arguing with people who don’t hear themselves. Jeff’s running his mouth with earmuffs on from the confines of a sensory deprivation chamber.

    Because of the Objectivity!

  • lee

    so is the analogy here that single women who have sex are the same as people who chose a life of criminality?
    is that the jist of “you bought the ticket, sweetheart, now take the ride?”
    so, single women who have sex should have no recourse if an encounter turns non-consensual, because they are basically engaging in “criminal” activity anyway.
    holy misogyny, batman.

  • S-M-R-T

    Let’s not forget that by this standard, the highly successful 2007 movie “Knocked Up” ($149 million in box office receipts) is not much more than a joke about rape. Watching the movie, men enjoy a fantasy about no-condom rape and women enjoy a fantasy of unquestionably superior competence – at least compared to the men. Everyone wins!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_4JJCAFBITLNR6DJW5S5HLBFLXM Becky

    Using the term “rape apologist” has about as much effect as yelling “racism” at every legitimate criticism. These people spend their lives looking for grievances. In the case of so-called “feminists”, it’s usually because Daddy dumped Mommy for a younger blonde and a new family.

  • j2

    Roman Polanski?

    Let’s see. Polanski vaginally then anally raped a minor w/o using a condom. He even admitted it, was convicted, and fled before sentencing but the Swiss would not extradite him.

  • Doc

    I’m sorry, but are you telling me that the girls didn’t know he wasn’t using a condom when he penetrated them? Seriously? If they knew did they say anything? If they knew at any time during the sex and didn’t say stop then there is no way this sticks. Being married for quite a while I may have forgotten how this whole condom thing works, but did these girls think a condom just magically puts itself on? Was there no wrapper tearing awkward moment that I remember? It was just as Stacy says, Buyer remorse. I’m pretty liberal as far as views of rape goes but this in no way constitutes rape the way it’s written up. All it does is diminish what exactly rape is.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ryan-William-Nohea-Garcia/509376214 Ryan William Nohea Garcia

    Why aren’t major news media publications who published portions of the Wikileaks documents as liable, or liable to a lesser degree, for whatever crime against the US Assange has committed?

  • Nolo Contendere

    Stacy, you’re an overground heri for engaging with these chuckleheads. Rock on, dude.

  • Mikey NTH

    As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
    There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
    That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
    And the burnt Fool’s bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

    And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
    When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
    As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
    The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

  • me

    Why would I call you a hater? All you did was make a provable statement of fact. Since the proof is right above your comment…I’ll just call you a decent observer.

  • me

    “you’ve already staked out your claim that a man should have full rights to a womans body once she has agreed to some sort of sex. ”

    Dude. If a woman agrees to have sex with you, she’s “GIVING you rights to her body…at least enough rights to have said sex. I don’t suppose she is giving you title to her liver or anything like that…but to stroke her breasts or put your penis in her vagina? Yeah. I’d say you have those rights to her body, given that she just gave them to you. Of course, the man also is giving the woman rights if she wished to exercise them. I would think she would have the right to grab his manhood and do any number of things to it, for instance.

    So what part of “agreed to have sex” is giving you the most trouble, spanky?

  • me

    “so is the analogy here that single women who have sex are the same as people who chose a life of criminality?
    is that the jist of “you bought the ticket, sweetheart, now take the ride?”"

    Holy jumping Jesus on the dash of a hopped-up 1982 purple Chevy Nova with glasspacks and fuzzy dice hanging from the mirror. Is this the result of all that liberal “intellectual superiority” we keep hearing about?

    Maybe saying the thing another way will help clear up your confusion: “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.” Better yet, ditch the cheesy quotes and go for the plain English version: if you do certain stuff, be prepared for the consequences.

    I guess there’s only so much you can learn when you’re into full-body immersion in lefty talking points.

  • gkchesterton

    “And if no condom is a felony…”

    No, not using a condom is *not* a felony in Sweden, nor will it ever be.

    As for the women in question, I´m going to eat a hat (of chocolate, natch) if it turns out that the CIA is planting deep-cover agents in the Swedish socialist christian-focused (now more Islam-focused, things change) Broderskapsrörelsen.

    But no, it´s not a “coincidence” – here is the most likely causality chain:

    Assange gets famous for leaking US secrets -> This gets him pull with chicks – > It gives him extra, extra pull with socialist chicks – > Sadly for Assange, socialist chicks in Sweden tend to be bitchy feminists -> Sex + feminist = Run away! -> Assange doesn´t run away -> He gets arrested.

  • Pingback: Rape By Any Other Name…: Why We Need to Stop Slandering Assange’s Rape Accusers « The Opinioness of the World

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