The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Blogs…And Stuff Like That

Posted on | September 3, 2013 | 16 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Normally after sleeping through a Live At Five, I would just hang my head in shame until it was time to do the next one, but a lot of folks sent me links over the weekend and I’d be remiss if I didn’t point you to those links.


First Street Journal: Sacrificing Your Children For The Greater Good, #Syria: Bashar al-Assad Crossed That Red Line In The Sand, So President Obama Is Going To Smack The Back Of His Hand, and From Around The Blogroll.
Blackmailers Don’t Shoot: Jody Rosen Has White Privilege All Over His Face
The Right Scoop: Run Away!


And ripped from the pages of my Feedly:
Legal Insurrection: Kafkatrapping (h/t American Power)
American Thinker: The Democrat Moral Superiority Complex
The Necropolitan Sentinel: Obama’s Foreign Policy Teleprompter Bloopers, also, Obamacare Watch: Happy Labor Day 2013!
Don Surber: Daily Scoreboard – Labor Day Weekend Edition
Jammie Wearing Fools: Media Sleuths Crack Mysterious Cory Booker “T-Bone” Story
JustOneMinute: Afraid To Lead – The Man Who Would Be President Present
Pat Dollard: McCain Reproaches Kilmeade, Says ‘Allahu Akbar’ Not Necessarily Terrorist Slogan: Just Like ‘A Christian Saying Thank God’
Protein Wisdom: Everything New Is Old Again, Cont.
Shot In The Dark: Our Bitchy Overlords
The Jawa Report: Get Well, Jim
The Lonely Conservative: The Chuck Norris Chickenburger
Megan McArdle: Walmart vs. Costco III -Why My Critics Are Wrong
Chicks On The Right: Everything Is A Right, Everyone Deserves Everything, And Everything Should Be Free. I Think That About Sums This Up


Official Theme Song Of The Overdue Live At Five Post


Category: Blogging
Tags:

The Proverbial Broken Clock

Posted on | September 3, 2013 | 58 Comments

Richard Cohen of the Washington Post is one of the worst newspaper columnists in America, or perhaps the world, and I usually try to avoid reading him, which only makes me angry. But the damned thing about Cohen is, about twice a year, he writes something sensible, and then I hate myself for agreeing with the old fool, as in his using the Steubenville sex-assault case to contextualize Miley Cyrus:

I run the risk of old-fogeyness for suggesting the girl’s a tasteless twit — especially that bit with the foam finger. (Look it up, if you must.) But let me also suggest that acts such as hers not only objectify women but debase them. They encourage a teenage culture that has set the women’s movement back on its heels. What is being celebrated is not sexuality but sexual exploitation, a mean casualness that deprives intimacy of all intimacy.

You can read the whole thing and see how Cohen manages to be annoying even when he’s right. Why invoke “the women’s movement” here?

It’s not as if, prior to the arrival of Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem on the scene, American culture was all about twerking. Conservative opponents of feminism have never “celebrated . . . sexual exploitation.” You can’t blame Phyllis Schlafly for Miley Cyrus.

This is the kind of cultural confusion that makes “SlutWalk” such an exercise in feminist folly. Framing the issue in terms of “rights” and angrily demanding that the victimization of women be blamed entirely on men, the “SlutWalk” mob insists that women’s bad behavior — even prostitution — should never be seen as undermining the general dignity of women. Meanwhile, without any sense of irony, the rhetoric of “SlutWalk” tends toward the collective demonization of all men for the criminal wrongdoing of a comparative handful of thugs.

Strangely, the New Yorker magazine article about the Steubenville case that Cohen cites as context — “Trial by Twitter,” by Ariel Levy — basically vindicates Lee Stranahan’s reporting and arguing about the case: Alexandria Goddard led an online lynch mob on the basis of conspiracy claims for which there was no evidence, wrongly stigmatizing as members of a “rape crew” teenagers whose only real involvement was their presence at a party where a drunk teenage girl was certainly abused, but not actually raped. Levy writes:

One afternoon, I met Jane Hanlin in her office, around the corner from the police station, where she sat at her desk underneath a poster of Snoopy standing with an American flag. She told me that she had watched with increasing frustration as the story spun out of control. “Here comes Goddard, here come the bloggers, and we’re sitting here watching this, knowing that we can’t respond,” she said, because the case was still open. But by the norms of social media there is little difference between confidentiality and obfuscation; if something isn’t broadcast, it must be furtive. “If you do anything to say, ‘Wait until we get to the truth,’ you are ‘pro-rape’ — whatever that means,” Hanlin said. “You are part of a conspiracy, a cover-up.”

This was the basic problem: A hysterical witch-hunt fueled by Goddard’s ax-grinding and by rhetoric about “rape culture.” If you can read the entire article and still think the result was justice, you have an alarming deficiency of skepticism. Discerning the real truth of what happened that night, when everyone involved was hopelessly drunk and the victim herself had no clear memory, is perhaps ultimately impossible. But merely to admit the ambiguity of the situation is to risk the accusation of being “pro-rape,” as Hanlin said — “whatever that means.”

Some people are more interested in “winning” an argument than they are in getting the facts right. Finding myself compelled to agree with Richard Cohen isn’t as bad as rape, but it’s still pretty bad.

I’m a victim. Don’t blame the victim, haters.

UPDATE: Well, this is very interesting. Cohen’s column is now a Memeorandum thread with Gawker, among others, deliberately misrepresenting the whole point, e.g.:

Richard Cohen Thinks Miley Cyrus
Raped That Poor Girl In Steubenville

See? This is how the Left nowadays turns common sense into thoughtcrime. What Cohen was saying — perhaps not clearly enough — was that the youth culture in which Miley Cyrus ostentatiously sexualizes herself on national TV is the same youth culture in which two buddies take turns with the drunk girl at the party and her naked photos get passed around as cell-phone souvenirs.

Degradation of women transfers from pop culture to the basement of a house in Steubenville, Ohio, and the Left expects us to believe that the one phenomenon has nothing to do with the other.

God forbid anyone should express the common-sense view, but then again, the Left has also made mention of God off-limits.

 

Category: Crime, Culture

Taiwanese Animators Weigh In On #Syria

Posted on | September 2, 2013 | 33 Comments

by Smitty

They make the point that, in giving Congress time to fiddle around with a vote, the Syrians can pack up the munitions and, oh, truck them anywhere. Invites the Schrödinger’s WMD question:

If I bomb falls in the forest on a dead cat, which bounces higher?

Category: Syria

Victims of the Id: There But for the Grace of God Go … Hey, Maybe You, Not Me!

Posted on | September 2, 2013 | 86 Comments

‘I should be telling you good girls don’t . . .’

“I took a fast right on Russell, then a left onto Maryland Parkway . . . and suddenly I was cruising in warm anonymity past the campus of the University of Las Vegas . . .  no tension on these faces; I stopped at a red light and got lost, for a moment, in a sunburts of flesh in the cross-walk: fine sinewy thighs, pink mini-skirts, ripe young nipples, sleeveless blouses, long sweeps of blond hair, pink lips and blue eyes — all the hallmarks of a dangerously innocent culture.
“I was tempted to pull over and start mumbling obscene entreaties: ‘Hey, Sweetie, let’s you and me get weird. Jump into this hotdog Caddy and we’ll flash over to my suite at the Flamingo, load up on ether and behave like wild animals in my private, kidney-shaped pool . . . .’
“Sure we will, I thought. But by this time I was far down the parkway, easing into the turn lane for a left at Flamingo Road. . . .”
— Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

You have the right to remain silent, and if any less-than-wholesome thought has ever crossed my mind, that’s between me and the Lord.

As for any depraved behaviors in which anyone might allege I ever indulged, permit me to point out that (a) heavy adolescent drug use may have rendered me temporarily insane for days or weeks at a time, (b) the statute of limitations expired long ago, (c) occasional psilocybin flashbacks cannot be ruled out, (d) some of my ex-girlfriends may have been pathological liars, (e) I used to be a Democrat, you know, and (f) I have the right to have my attorney present during questioning.

God bless the Constitution, I say, and guys who think they can avail themselves of the confessional mode favored by contemporary feminists — i.e., “the personal is political” — are apt to get a rude awakening, as Hugo Schwyzer discovered to his chagrin.

My stern disapproval of fornication and other sins of the flesh should never be mistaken for self-righteousness or a lack of empathy for the perverted souls whose transgressions are exposed before the world. Please, don’t ever tell me I’m ignorant about sin, but don’t think you can impugn me as a hypocrite, either. Read more

Category: Crime, Fear. Loathing., Sex

Funniest Thing on the Internet Today

Posted on | September 2, 2013 | 57 Comments

Category: Celebrities, humor

A Few Words About Moderation And The Banhammer

Posted on | September 2, 2013 | 37 Comments

— Wombat-socho

I’m going to keep this short, because there really isn’t much to be said, but it does need saying, especially after the messes some people made in the comments yesterday. First of all, much like Anonymous or /b/, I am not your private army. Don’t expect me to blacklist someone just on your say-so. There is exactly one person who gets to tell me who to whack and when, one R. Stacy McCain, owner and proprietor of this here blog. Secondly, I am not going to ban people for disagreeing with a post. We tolerate all sorts here, whether they are social conservatives, libertarians, godless Commies, pinko fellow travellers & “useful fools”, or just confused. Heck, even Stacy’s Crazy Cousin John is welcome to comment here. However, keep in mind that this blog is like Stacy’s living room, and it’s not okay to come in and take a dump on the carpet.

It’s also not okay to use foul language. I realize that some of the trolls are horrible people, who can barely string two words together without using obscenities, but this is no reason for you to descend to their level. If you’re that angry, maybe you need to get up from the keyboard, go have a beer (or six), and calm down. Because if you go over the line, I may extend you the courtesy of a warning – or not. Longevity in the commentariat is no defense. We used to have a guy named Knapp who would drop by and dispense pearls of libertarian wisdom before us religiously inclined swine, and one day I guess he got up on the wrong side of the bed and said some things he shouldn’t have in the comments. Now we don’t have Thomas Knapp to kick around any more. Would you like to be the next Thomas Knapp? I’m certainly willing to accommodate you, regardless of your political and religious inclinations. Are you listening, Mr. Finrod?

We do get people in here that don’t agree with Stacy, or me, or you. Sometimes they’re just trolls. Sometimes, like Amber, they seem to be sincere people that really don’t understand where we’re coming from. Be patient. Engage these people. Who knows, you might just talk one around to seeing the light. You’re sure not going to accomplish that by calling them a**holes and dykes. Rather, emulate Da Tech Guy, a true Christian, who reached out to andria_xx and offered some advice in the hope of redeeming that poor lost soul. Be like Pete.

 

 

ADDENDUM (by RSM): Ace of Spades did a long explanation about his own reasons for banning a certain “Billy Bob,” which boils down to this: Don’t disrespect your host’s hospitality. I had not been aware that Thomas Knapp got himself banned and, as I was offline Sunday attending my wife’s family reunion, I don’t know exactly why Wombat is brandishing the banhammer in the direction of Finrod.

My advice is, everybody should just chill the hell out.

 

Category: Blogging, Da Tech Guy

Yo! Rodeo Clown!

Posted on | September 2, 2013 | 33 Comments

by Smitty

Keep in mind that ol’ Rutherford B. was the initial occupant of the Resolute Desk.

Category: Barack Obama, humor

My Nightmare and @Andria_XX’s Reality

Posted on | September 2, 2013 | 96 Comments

Sunday was spent with my wife and kids at her family reunion and, I don’t know, maybe I’m feeling deadline stress on this article about the Virginia gubernatorial campaign I’m supposed to be finishing up for the next print issue of The American Spectator.

Anyway, I woke up this morning after having a horrible nightmare about Miley Cyrus. It was a sex dream. This confirms my Calvinist belief in total human depravity, because anybody who would dream about sex with her is totally depraved.

Do I feel dirty? Sure, but that wasn’t actually the nightmare part.

In the dream, I woke up and Miley was gone, so I stumbled outside half-dressed and there was some kind of deal about her cell phone being lost. Then I started walking toward a restaurant. (Don’t ask why; dreams don’t work that way). On my way to the restaurant, I encountered Miley who was headed back in the other direction. I told her I would find her cell phone and she yelled back that I had better find her Aerosmith tickets, too. (Don’t ask why Miley Cyrus would need tickets to get into an Aerosmith concert; dreams don’t work that way.) So I got to the restaurant, where they had both the phone and the tickets at the front desk, but then the police showed up, and the media, too.

That’s when I woke up, just as it turned into a catastrophic scandal.

Like I say, I attribute this nightmare to deadline stress, rather than to any secret lust for Miley Cyrus, but thank God, it was just a dream.

Not so much for @Andria_XX, the feminist whose reaction to criticism of Miley Cyrus’s VMA performance introduced the world to the word “heteropatriarchal.” Andria has an “Honors BA in Social Justice and Peace Studies” and has nearly completed her Master’s degree in Gender Studies, yet finds herself applying for hotel clerk jobs: “My degrees mean NOTHING. I am at the end of my rope.“

Andria’s plight went viral over the weekend — not in a good way.

My observation that being “an advanced student of useless ideology doesn’t result in meaningful employment” got linked all over the place, including Instapundit and a sidebar headline at Ace of Spades, and Vox Day made a point I hadn’t even considered:

She’s very lucky the service industry will consider hiring anyone with a pulse, because any employer looking at those degrees has to knows she is a walking, talking, sexual harassment and/or discrimination lawsuit waiting to happen.
In fact, a Gender Studies degree actually has negative value, given that credentialed feminists are considerably more likely to cause disruption in the workplace.

Exactly: Outside of academia, non-profit activism or certain government jobs, no employer in his right mind would hire someone whose educational credentials identify them as an adherent of radical ideology. Better to major in Esperanto literature, really, than to advertise yourself as one of the Permanently Aggrieved.

Reaction ranged from Captain Capitalism’s embittered schadenfreude (don’t let your hate own you), to Pete Da Tech Guy’s merciful hope for Andria’s redemption (a hope perhaps too fond). But the genuinely horrifying revelation was when David Thompson linked to one of Andria’s Tweets that I had hitherto overlooked:

@Andria_XX‘s plight is kinda like my Miley Cyrus nightmare, a catastrophic scandal exposing a shameful truth. Imagine the moment you realize that your education was not merely a waste of time, but a crippling burden that will haunt you the rest of your life.

Somebody should write a book about that, eh?

 

 

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Category: Celebrities, Education, Feminism, Sex
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