The Stupid Goes All the Way to Eleven

Posted on | June 15, 2014 | 54 Comments

@LynnParramore has a Ph.D. in English and cultural theory from New York University. Last week, Parramore made a complete fool of herself by writing a column about a grocery store playing the Rolling Stones 1966 song “Under My Thumb”:

As I listened, I thought about how the song plays in the wake of Elliot Rodger’s killing spree, fueled, as the killer explained in a lengthy manifesto, by his rage against women and desire to control them.
We’ve been wringing our hands, asking how young men can become so hostile and eager to dominate to women. Well, isn’t it because our culture feeds them the message at every turn, even in the most mundane settings? What does it mean that degradation of half the population is considered appropriate background noise to everyday life?
In “Under My Thumb,” the singer boasts about how he’s gained control of his girl, comparing her to, among other things, a squirming dog.

The obvious objection to Dr. Parramore’s complaint is that it is a non sequitur. There is zero evidence that Elliot Rodger was motivated by song lyrics of any kind and we have no reason to believe that Rodger ever heard “Under My Thumb.” By contrast, I’ve heard the song many times and I never went on a killing spree.

Heck, I’m not even “hostile and eager to dominate to women,” despite years of exposure to the Rolling Stones and other rock-and-roll groups that specialized in that sort of strutting macho posture. Here is the opening line of of a favorite song by Bad Company:

Well, I take whatever I want
And baby, I want you.

Pretty doggone misogynistic, really, but it was just rock-and-roll. Here’s another classic favorite by Led Zeppelin:

Hey, hey, mama, said the way you move,
Gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove.

Definitely some kind of sexism there, but it’s still just rock-and-roll. Contrary to Dr. Parramore’s diagnosis, listening to rock-and-roll didn’t inspire me to a “rage against women,” nor do we have any evidence that Elliot Rodger was into rock-and-roll.

Matt Welch wrote a column at Reason magazine pointing out the absurdity of Dr. Parramore’s complaint, and some people responded by saying rude things about Dr. Parramore.

She wrote an entire column about the reaction:

A great many of the commenters degraded me as a woman, hurling insults and violent language. . . .
I suspect the rage has several sources: the impotence felt by men in a stagnant economy, the collective guilt of men and women who feel complicit in not speaking up themselves, and the old, primal fear of women having too much power, too much say. Many expressed outrage that I’m a woman with advanced academic degrees, a person who gets paid to write, a person confident enough to speak up.
The insults are a demand for silence, a return to the status quo, a warning.

You see that Dr. Parramore, having misdiagnosed Elliot Roger as a victim of rock-and-roll, now presumes to diagnose her critics as suffering from “impotence . . . collective guilt . . . primal fear.”

The alternate theory — that her stupid arguments are offensive to rock-and-roll fans — is one Dr. Parramore never even considers.

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Category: Feminism, Intellectuals, Music

Comments

54 Responses to “The Stupid Goes All the Way to Eleven”

Stogie Chomper
June 15th, 2014 @ 11:13 pm

“Under My Thumb” is a great song, good tune, good beat. As I recall, it’s a song expressing glee that the guy has reversed fortunes with “the girl who once had me down.” At first he wanted her but couldn’t have her, and now she wants him and he’s playing it coy. Hardly the stuff of gender exploitation — more like the age-old battle of the sexes.
robertstacymccain
June 15th, 2014 @ 11:28 pm

The marimba part by Brian Jones makes the song. The lyric is a classic macho-rock gesture, but that’s the point — it’s merely a gesture, an expression of a certain attitude and, contrary to Dr. Parramore’s theory, rock fans are clever enough to recognize it as such. I mean, my enjoyment of the song didn’t mean that I ever had any desire for a woman who speaks only when spoken to. Maybe there are people too stupid to understand the difference between song lyrics and reality, but I’m not one of them.
Taxpayer1234
June 15th, 2014 @ 11:30 pm

But, see, the Stones, each member being in TEH WHITE PATRIARCHY, were subconsciously venting their rape fantasies in the song lyrics. The Stones’ entire raison d’être is to sound-rape women, doncha know. /sarc
JeffWeimer
June 15th, 2014 @ 11:49 pm

Oh Gawd. It appears nearly everything is an excuse for the good Doctor to rock her hobbyhorse.
darleenclick
June 15th, 2014 @ 11:57 pm

In her original column, she conveniently omits the first two opening lyric lines:

Under my thumb, the girl who once had me down
Under my thumb, the girl who once pushed me around

Anything she had to say subsequent to that bad faith opening is nonsense.
TiminAL
June 16th, 2014 @ 12:02 am

And Mein Gott! The comments to her article (from today’s link). Mind boggling.
Adjoran
June 16th, 2014 @ 12:05 am

It’s not so much “macho rock” as “romantic revenge rock,” and there are any number of similar songs from the female perspective.

“These Boots Are Made for Walkin'”
“Irreplaceable” (Beyonce)
“You’re so Vain”
“Breakin’ Dishes” (Rhianna, who won’t stop fighting her man until the cops come, according to the song)
“Before He Cheats” (Carrie Underwood)
“One Way or Another” (Blondie)
“Smile” (Lili Allen, who makes Mick look metrosexual and wimpy http://youtu.be/0WxDrVUrSvI
“Shitlist” (L7 – the chick who pulled out her tampon on stage and threw it into the crowd because, men, or something)
“You Oughtta Know” (Alanis Morissette)
and how could we forget
“Goodbye to Earl” (Dixie Chicks, who kill the guy)

And there are many more. This is just another underqualifed academic twisting anything shiny that gets her attention into some whining grievance against the world. That this chick managed even a Bachelor’s degree is in itself an indictment of modern higher education.
Adjoran
June 16th, 2014 @ 12:06 am

And pretty much half of Taylor Swift’s songs.

I left out Indigo Girls and Melissa Ethridge because they are getting back at other women, but those songs do fit the generic category as well.
Adjoran
June 16th, 2014 @ 12:09 am

I said pretty much the same in my reply to Stacy below. It’s as if she has an enchanted Tiara of Perpetual Outrage +10, constant effect, and isn’t afraid to use its power.
Adjoran
June 16th, 2014 @ 12:11 am

A “Ph.D in English and cultural theory” means it isn’t even a Ph.D. in English, it’s some bastardized hybrid discipline created to allow the less qualified to pretend to be “doctors,” too.

If you dumb down the curricula enough, you can eventually achieve your target “diversity” on paper, and an even greater diversity of forms of idiots on campus.
ChandlersGhost
June 16th, 2014 @ 12:26 am

I thought that feminists finished whining about that song in the 70s.
Wombat_socho
June 16th, 2014 @ 12:46 am

Remember the billboard advertising the album (“Black And Blue”) that single came from, and the screams from the feminists at the time? Compare and contrast to Planned Parenthood dishing out advice on S&M to teenagers. You’ve come a long way, baby!
ChandlersGhost
June 16th, 2014 @ 1:01 am

I wasn’t born yet, but your point is taken. 🙂
malclave
June 16th, 2014 @ 1:15 am

I guess “Be My Baby” by Ronnie and the Ronettes was really about how women are pedophiles. Maybe the Teachers Unions can adopt it as an anthem.
concern00
June 16th, 2014 @ 4:17 am

“Well, it’s one louder, isn’t it? It’s not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You’re on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you’re on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?”

Indeed!
Adjoran
June 16th, 2014 @ 6:26 am

But you’ve fallen into the trap of logic constructed by the heteronormative patriarchy!
rustypaladin
June 16th, 2014 @ 6:28 am

Someone posted something that offended her on the internet and she ascribes all sorts of anti-feminist motives to them. Is she new to this whole internet thing?
Adjoran
June 16th, 2014 @ 6:30 am

I think it was Washington State that paid Dan Savage $25K of student fees to come lecture on fisting, among other similar topics.

Norm MacDonald was wrong when he said: “Even in today’s enlightened society, there remains a stigma to being a psycho-sexual sadist.”

Get back to the college circuit, Norm!
Dana
June 16th, 2014 @ 7:26 am

My first question would be: was the grocery store muzak really clear enough for anyone to understand the words? It usually isn’t.

But here’s one for her: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMOGaugKpzs
Dana
June 16th, 2014 @ 7:35 am

Dr Parramore (or should that be Dr Paramour?) really had no choice here: as one of the class of the Professionally Offended, she has to be offended, both frequently and often, and by the trivial if there’s nothing actually serious over which to take umbrage.

And the Elliot Rodger case is a serious problem for the Professionally Offended, because it has faded from the public consciousness too quickly, and because the POed — ain’t it great how that acronym works? — didn’t make a sufficiently persuasive impression in the public mind that Mr Rodger was anything more than a pathetic nutcase, that he was some sort of bellwether of men in general. Not having made their case persuasively enough, they have to keep trying and trying and trying, hoping that maybe, eventually, they’ll wear down intellectual resistance.

It’s kind of like the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill case. As much as the liberals wanted to believe it and use it to stop a great jurist from taking a seat on the Supreme Court, more people believed Mr Thomas than Miss Hill, at the time of the confirmation vote! Fast forward to today, and more people would believe Miss Hill’s version of events, simply because the left never let up.
RS
June 16th, 2014 @ 7:58 am

As the immortal Sigmund Freud once said: “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”
Dana
June 16th, 2014 @ 8:23 am

Someone played way too much D&D in college!
Dana
June 16th, 2014 @ 8:24 am

Immortal? And here I thought that he was dead. Who knew?
Escher's House
June 16th, 2014 @ 9:20 am

You’re right. It plays out a revenge fantasy.
Escher's House
June 16th, 2014 @ 9:25 am

Was will das Weib? – Sigmund Freud
RS
June 16th, 2014 @ 9:31 am

His legacy lives on, alas.
Phil_McG
June 16th, 2014 @ 9:31 am

She has a point. Ever since Elton John’s ode to weekend fisticuffs “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” I’ve been getting drunker than a barrelful of monkeys and arrested every single week. Thanks, Elton.
RS
June 16th, 2014 @ 9:33 am

BTW, is Professor Parramore going to rant about the anti-female lyrics of most rap and hip-hop artists? Or does she confine her wisdom to songs from 40 years ago by now old, pasty white guys?
Phil_McG
June 16th, 2014 @ 10:05 am

To ask the question is to answer it. To be fair though, when was the last time you heard the supermarket tannoy playing “Smell Yo Dick” when you were browsing the fruit and veg?
S'up
June 16th, 2014 @ 11:26 am

It’s the homophony: Parramore/Paramour…
MNHawk
June 16th, 2014 @ 11:37 am

Listening to The Lemon Song, or Robert Johnson’s Traveling Riverside Blues, leads me to the conclusion that womyn like this just don’t have enough lemons in their lives.
richard mcenroe
June 16th, 2014 @ 1:19 pm

You left out Miranda Lambert, who has made a sub genre all her own out of this theme:

Gunpowder and Lead
Kerosene
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Fastest Girl in Town
(This Ain’t Your) Mama’s Broken Heart
White Liar
Time to Get a Gun
Trailer for Rent (“trailer for rent/ no down payment /comes with some holes and dents/ where i got tired of his shit”)

And I’m sure many more I haven’t caught up with yet.

Carrie Underwood keyed a car, big whoop.

Read more: Pistol Annies – Trailer For Rent Lyrics | MetroLyrics
richard mcenroe
June 16th, 2014 @ 1:21 pm

West Hollywood it’s on heavy rotation.
Dana
June 16th, 2014 @ 1:42 pm

Heteronormativist! I denounce you!
charles w
June 16th, 2014 @ 3:36 pm

Smell the glove.
Bob Belvedere
June 16th, 2014 @ 7:49 pm

I can assure you that the last woman who would ever fall into a trap is Darleen.
Wombat_socho
June 16th, 2014 @ 7:54 pm

You say that like it’s a bad thing.
Bob Belvedere
June 16th, 2014 @ 7:54 pm

Actually, Under My Thumb is early, 1960’s Stones [1966].

The ad you reference [linked below] was for the Black And Blue album from 1976.

http://anita-russell.com/BlackBlue.html
Rolling Stones: Under My Thumb and Dworkzilla | Batshit Crazy News
June 17th, 2014 @ 12:01 am

[…] TOM: The Stupid Goes All The Way To Eleven… […]
Lyle Petersen
June 17th, 2014 @ 1:44 am

But does your old lady care?
David Gillies
June 17th, 2014 @ 3:03 am

“…outrage that I’m a woman with advanced academic degrees…”

No, I have advanced degrees, in physics and electronic engineering. You have some framed pieces of paper.
Pablo
June 17th, 2014 @ 5:17 am

When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like HETEROCISNORMATIVE MISOGYNISTIC PATRIARCHY!!!11!!
TMLutas
June 17th, 2014 @ 9:44 am

Calling logic a trap is exactly what a polylogist would say and so I think it’s a bit of ironic imitation of what they say to normal people.
Dana
June 17th, 2014 @ 10:06 am

Oh, no way!
Dana
June 17th, 2014 @ 10:12 am

Dr Paramour wrote:

I suspect the rage has several sources: the impotence felt by men in a stagnant economy, the collective guilt of men and women who feel complicit in not speaking up themselves, and the old, primal fear of women having too much power, too much say. Many expressed outrage that I’m a woman with advanced academic degrees, a person who gets paid to write, a person confident enough to speak up.

The insults are a demand for silence, a return to the status quo, a warning.

Apparently, despite her advanced degrees, she is unable to tell that people aren’t criticizing her because she is a woman with advanced academic degrees, but because she has made a poor case.

Having advanced academic degrees doesn’t somehow make a person automatically correct, though such does seem to make many of them automatically smug.
Janie4
June 17th, 2014 @ 11:43 am

I think what drove me nuts about the column was her total tone deafness to people with mental illness. I get it – the lyrics are offensive, and she is within her right to complain (although writing an entire column about how wonderful she is that she did is ridiculous). But then she linked it to Elliot Rodgers.

Elliot Rodgers had severe mental issues. He would have had those issues if the song had been playing ten times a day, and he would have had them if they had never played. A hundred years ago, he might have found an outlet for his issues in religion, anti-pornography tracts or whatever. A hundred years from now, it would have been something else. Paramorre defaulted to the whole “mental illness isn’t an organic thing, it’s something imposed on a person by society!!” bullshit that’s been going on since the sixties. It’s not. As someone who has OCD, mental illness is about brain chemistry primarily, not the Rolling Stones. And it’s profoundly offensive she’s trivializing it so by talking about how it’s the culture’s fault.

Parramore is reacting like way too many people do when confronted with mental illness. They have no power over someone else’s mental illness, and it’s terrifying to realize how little power someone with mental illness has over it either. So they go try to find something they can control, because that’s easier/less terrifying. They blame the parents, the culture, music, society’s treatment of mental illness, etc. They try to turn the story to anything else that theoretically can be changed and controlled. If that’s what they want to do, fine. Denial has its place. But they’re not doing anything for anyone who has ever had a mental illness/chemical based brain disorder. Nothing. So don’t act like you are.
karen straughan
June 17th, 2014 @ 1:07 pm

“Many expressed outrage that I’m a woman with advanced academic degrees, a person who gets paid to write, a person confident enough to speak up.”

I’m almost positive that the outrage originated in the fact that a woman with advanced academic degrees who gets paid to write could be such an inane and entitled weakling that 1) she is made uncomfortable by a song made popular decades ago, and 2) feels she has the right to dictate to others what is acceptable and appropriate and what is not.

In other words, how can someone with advanced degrees who gets paid to write be such a dang ninny?

Make no mistake, this is less about any contention that Elliot Rodger was influenced by rock and roll, and more about her feeeeeeelings of persecution as an “oppressed” woman.

When did the US health system reform its policy on dealing with the mentally disordered to include granting them doctorates and giving them a media podium from which to project their personal frailties and paranoias onto the wider culture?
TheOldMan
June 17th, 2014 @ 2:36 pm

The killer was so incensed about women that he killed four men and two women. Hmm, perhaps he was angrier with men or perhaps he was just a loser. A Ph. D. in “Cultural theory?” Flush…
ontheleftcoast
June 17th, 2014 @ 5:21 pm

I think I’ll start a band. I’ll call it Transgressive™.
Minicapt
June 17th, 2014 @ 11:18 pm

A PhD in English might be an advanced degree, especially if completed 25 years ago, but she has a PhD in Critical Theory (specialty in English) which is not advanced at all. It should be classed with the “Fin Arts” such as modern dance and hip-hop appreciation.

Cheers