Archive for the 'Politics' Category
Gender Wars 2: The Patriarchy Strikes Back
February 14th, 2008
Erica Jong is a complete idiot.
I’m not even going to waste words or blogspace commenting on the sheer, blindered stupidity of this statement:
Ever since I wrote an article in the Washington Post ten days ago, I’ve been getting love letters from women and super-smart men and brickbats from the Hillary-Haters. Unfortunately the Hillary-Haters are in charge. They monopolize the networks, the newspapers, the talk shows — both radio and TV. They are crossing their legs for fear of castration. They are wearing the body armor our troops never got. Or got too late to matter. They are determined that a woman will not prove herself competent as Commander in Chief.
OK, I’m going to waste some words here. I have often stated that the farther Left someone goes, the farther Right they appear to be. The spectrum of Right (conservativism) verses Left (liberalism) is not a line—it’s a circle.
Consider this: the Left is often associated with Big Government, while the Right supports limited government and states’ rights. But have a gander at the U.S. Government under George W. Bush, the Right’s idiot prince: is not the Department of Homeland Security a blatantly perfect example of Big Government in that fact that it is a gigantic organization sucking up vast amounts of taxpayers’ money yet not showing any verifiably positive result?
In the above statement, Jong has proven this again by retreating so far Left she has begun to spout the exact same statements that the Right are accustomed to making. The so-called Hillary-Haters “monopolize the networks, the newspapers, the talk shows — both radio and TV.” Hmmm. How often have Republican pundits over the past however-many years stood on their radio soapboxes declaring that the “Liberal Media” was stifling their opinions and preventing Candidate X from having a fair say?
Jong, you’re acting like a Republican in disguise. Just like Hillary Clinton herself. This is not a feminist issue. No one is fearing…what, political or literal “castration”? Could you possibly have used a more ridiculous, stereotypical phrase? No one likes Hillary Clinton because despite running as a Democrat, she is a pro-war, pro-status-quo oligarchist. If you really want an -archy to rail against, try the Beltway oligarchy who has been running this nation for the past twentyfive years specifically to fill their pockets and those of their friends? You would have a very pertinent topic then. Leave the outdated, bra-burning “feminist” rhetoric (and I use that term very loosely, as “feminism” is so much more than your squinty anti-male view with its eternal catchwords “patriarchy” and “castration”) behind and focus your righteous ire on a legitimate topic.
Oh, and if you wonder what Obama specifically stands for, have a look at his campaign website, or, more pertinently, his Senate webpage. Take some time to read his speeches given on various issues and take a look at his voting record. And remember: people make mistakes, like voting for a war that seemed justified at the time. However, smart people—that is, people unlike Hillary Clinton—learn from their mistakes.
Technorati Tags: erica jong,hillary clinton,barack obama,politics,feminism,patriarchy,idiocy
The Great Compromise
January 12th, 2008
Sometime this week, my friend and D&D compatriot Josh “JJ” Hornbeck, a sergeant in the National Guard, is going to be redeployed to the bottomless pit of Iraq for a little over a year. To say that I’m worried about his safety is a bit of an understatement…but JJ is highly-trained, alert, and most likely going to be detailed to a postal outfit handling snailmail communications to and from the States like he was during his last tour of duty.
Nonetheless, in honor of his redeployment, I’m quoting here the complete lyrics of one of my alltime favorite John Prine songs, “The Great Compromise,” as, even though it was written during the Vietnam War era, it is even more relevant to the United States’ current military endeavours than it was to ‘Nam.
And in case you’re not particularly perceptive, let’s just say that this song is not about a guy jilted by a slutty date. “The Great Compromise” is one of the greatest examples of extended metaphor ever utilized in a protest song. In fact, despite the fact that Bob Dylan is considered the God of Protest Songs, he never produced anything with the poetic sublimity and sad resignation of John Prine’s “The Great Compromise.”
So, without further ado:
I knew a girl who was almost a lady
She had a way with all the men in her life
Every inch of her blossomed in beauty
And she was born on the fourth of July
Well she lived in an aluminum house trailer
And she worked in a juke box saloon
And she spent all the money I give her
Just to see the old man in the moonChorus:
I used to sleep at the foot of Old Glory
And awake in the dawn’s early light
But much to my surprise
When I opened my eyes
I was a victim of the great compromiseWell we’d go out on Saturday evenings
To the drive-in on Route 41
And it was there that I first suspected
That she was doin’ what she’d already done
She said “Johnny won’t you get me some popcorn”
And she knew I had to walk pretty far
And as soon as I passed through the moonlight
She hopped into a foreign sports car(Repeat chorus)
Well you know I could have beat up that fellow
But it was her that had hopped into his car
Many times I’d fought to protect her
But this time she was goin’ too far
Now some folks they call me a coward
‘Cause I left her at the drive-in that night
But I’d druther have names thrown at me
Than to fight for a thing that ain’t right(Repeat chorus)
Now she writes all the fellows love letters
Saying “Greetings, come and see me real soon”
And they go and line up in the barroom
And spend the night in that sick woman’s room
But sometimes I get awful lonesome
And I wish she was my girl instead
But she won’t let me live with her
And she makes me live in my head
Think about it. How many of our young men and women today are spending years in that “sick woman’s room”? Ask yourself: when, precisely, did Lady Liberty become the oil-addicted whore of OPEC and the American petroleum industry?
I think it’s time for an intervention.
