Thursday, April 06, 2006
Carnival of the Commies: Impromptu Thursday evening edition
Longtime readers know that I read a lot of lefty blogs and occasionally round up the most interesting or representative stuff in a "Carnival of the Commies" post. Notwithstanding the title -- we view "commies" as a nostalgic, almost cuddly term for lefties -- the purpose is not to snark, but to ponder and even enjoy. All endorsements or criticisms by me are stated. Do not assume that in these links you will detect either praise or scorn, unless I clearly label it as such.
So. This Thursday night, what's going on over there?
Ampersand looks at the rights of women in the Middle East, and argues that they may be inversely correlated with the spread of democracy. Some of it is interesting, although I quarrel strenuously with this bit:
Except, of course, for women who disagreed with Saddam, or found themselves on the wrong side of the local Ba'athist strongman, or who were Kurdish, or who lived in the marshes, or who wanted to travel abroad. Yes, things may have gotten tougher for professional women who flourished under the Ba'athists, but that strikes me as an unnecessarily cramped view of the result. Regular readers know that I am very hard on Muslims for their treatment of women, but the solution simply cannot be brutal dictatorship. Put differently, if Ampersand is right that totalitarianism is the only force that can prevent the popular oppression of women in the Arab Muslim world, why are so few leftists willing to condemn the culture of that world?
Atrios:
Via Atrios:
The "Ayatollah Kos"?!?
Lo, Ezra Klein smites employer-provided health care. I agree-ith with-ith him, and envy his use of faux biblical rhetoric.
And then go read Klein's thoughts on the newly translated Gospel of Judas.
TBogg:
Ouch.
James Wolcott revisits his strange fascination with Atlas Shrugs.
That's the lot.
So. This Thursday night, what's going on over there?
Ampersand looks at the rights of women in the Middle East, and argues that they may be inversely correlated with the spread of democracy. Some of it is interesting, although I quarrel strenuously with this bit:
Women's liberty in Iraq, already in decline under Hussain, have sharply plummeted since the U.S. invasion.
Except, of course, for women who disagreed with Saddam, or found themselves on the wrong side of the local Ba'athist strongman, or who were Kurdish, or who lived in the marshes, or who wanted to travel abroad. Yes, things may have gotten tougher for professional women who flourished under the Ba'athists, but that strikes me as an unnecessarily cramped view of the result. Regular readers know that I am very hard on Muslims for their treatment of women, but the solution simply cannot be brutal dictatorship. Put differently, if Ampersand is right that totalitarianism is the only force that can prevent the popular oppression of women in the Arab Muslim world, why are so few leftists willing to condemn the culture of that world?
Atrios:
I'm sure the surprising lack of interest in the DHS sexual predator by our press has nothing to do with his 26 years spent as one of them.
Via Atrios:
Every time I hear someone use the phrase “politically incorrect”, I remember a time when I was in college and I found myself having coffee with this guy who was on a rant. I don’t remember how I got into this situation, but I remember the rant very well.
“Okay, well, some people say that I’m an asshole, and you know what, they’re probably right. I am an asshole. But that’s just who I am, you know what I’m saying?”
And the mind boggled. Apparently this guy was a firm believer in the concept of some sort of Asshole Rights, a special right granted only to self-declared assholes to be rude as they want to be and never get criticized for it. Which meant that in order to get a free pass to be rude whenever you want to be, all you had to do was declare yourself an asshole and everyone else had to tiptoe around you forevermore.
“Politcally incorrect” functions in exactly this way. It’s never actually been used as an insult, contrary to conservative myth. Instead, it’s always used in praise of the person it’s applied to. It’s a totemic phrase and is invoked with the hopes that it gives the person who uses it magical protection against being criticized. The charm invoked is something like, “By using the phrase ‘politically incorrect’, I hereby have the power to say racist, sexist, or stupid things and if you try to examine my argument for things like logic or even common human decency, my Politically Incorrect Anti-Criticism Shield will make that criticism of me ricochet back and land on you, making you Politically Correct, which is the rhetorical equivalent of leperosy.”
The phrase “politically incorrect” is used as an anti-criticism shield so consistently that the mere use of it can be taken to mean that the person who wields it knows that his/her argument is so bad that the merest whiff of criticism will make it crumple into a soggy mess. In other words, when you hear someone start off an argument with, “It may be politically incorrect to say so,” what they mean to say is, “I’m fixing to make a point that’s completely indefensible but I’m going to say it anyway because I’ve got special Asshole Rights.” (Link)
The "Ayatollah Kos"?!?
Kieran Healy of Crooked Timber on Oliver Wendell Holmes and the youth of the nation:
He died in 1935, and so there are still many people alive today who knew him, or at least shook hands with him. Holmes was born in 1841, and as a boy he met John Quincy Adams, who was born in 1767. So (I tell my students—maybe I should chew on a pipe when I say this, for added effect) you are just three handshakes away from a man born before the French Revolution, the American War of Independence, and arguably before the Industrial Revolution, as well.
Lo, Ezra Klein smites employer-provided health care. I agree-ith with-ith him, and envy his use of faux biblical rhetoric.
And then go read Klein's thoughts on the newly translated Gospel of Judas.
TBogg:
The outlaw Willie Sutton was once asked why he robbed banks and he replied, "Because that's where the money is."
Which brings us to NBC's Dateline and NASCAR.
Ouch.
James Wolcott revisits his strange fascination with Atlas Shrugs.
That's the lot.
1 Comments:
By 
Cardinalpark, at
Fri Apr 07, 01:02:00 PM:
I've been thinking alot about the NBC Nascar thing because it's so loaded with classic new york media condescension and stereotyping of:
1) the south
2) "rednecks"
3) "white trash"
4) "the bible belt"
5) red states
If anybody actually articulated publicly the stereotypes which undoubtedly motivated the producer's original idea, they would of course be vilified.
the particular irony, again in NY, is that when the producer's meeting was over, said producer probably jumped into a taxi. There is a more than even possibility that said taxi was driven by a Pakistani Muslim. And the mutual tension between that producer and that cab driver -- which goes on every day in NY -- far exceeds anything that would go on at a NASCAR race.
For those familiar with NY cabs, please comment away...
