Don’t Oppress My People With Your Acceptance And Compliments

In the pages of the Guardian, an elaborate humblebrag, care of race-grifter Natalie Morris: 

It’s often hard to articulate why something that sounds like a compliment can be so harmful. On the racism scale, being told that you’re beautiful is hardly the worst thing that can happen. But just because something presents as a positive on the surface, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t dig deeper into the wider implications of this phenomenon.

Being found attractive is, we’re assured, terribly “problematic.” Though the aforementioned difficulties of articulating why will soon become apparent. We learn, for instance, that celebrities who are difficult to racially categorise are merely,

cherry-picking the elements of Blackness that suit their brand without any of the uncomfortable or disadvantageous implications of actually living as Black.

Quite what this magic “Blackness” might be is, alas, left to the imagination. Likewise, the phrase “living as Black” is delivered portentously but just left to hang there, devoid of particulars. Instead, we’re treated to vague, erratic rumblings about “proximity to whiteness” - a term that is itself not so much an explanation as an incantation, a marker of status. It seems we should just know these things, or nod as if we do. We are nonetheless informed, quite firmly, that,

it’s impossible to see the rise of mixed beauty ideals as a positive thing, because at its heart sits an unsettling insistence on white superiority.

It’s impossible, you see. Again, how Ms Morris arrived at this assertion is less than clear. Though, this being the Guardian, it does have an air of inevitability, of predestination. A book-plugging detour into anecdotes concerning dating and racial fetishism does little to help matters, beyond suggesting that sometimes compliments can be informed by niche racial kinks, and that some kinks are more common than others. Not much of a foundation for sad songs of collective oppression. As if determined to be unobvious, Ms Morris shares this:

In the 1930s and 1940s, there were groups warning about the dangers of “race crossing”; there were calls for mixed people to be sterilised; we were denigrated as deviant, stupid, contaminated, undesirable. Isn’t the contemporary idealisation of mixedness – the suggestion that we are more beautiful or have “the best of both” – simply the other side of the same coin?

Wanting to sterilise people and not wanting to sterilise them are two sides of the same coin, apparently.

Ms Morris tells us that in her youth not being white and not looking like the women seen most often in media and advertising made her feel “insecure.” (“I remember the distinct feeling of wanting to shrink myself, melt myself down into something neater, smaller, sleeker – which is how I saw my white friends, and the beautiful white people on TV.”) And yet now, when women who resemble her, racially, are all but ubiquitous in media and advertising – way out of proportion to actual demographics, and even added anachronistically to historical dramas – this is also a cause of unhappiness and resentment, an excuse for convoluted theories of racial victimhood.

And so, we’re then informed that “celebrating mixed beauty,” which entails the normalisation of racial blending and “every other TV ad” featuring “mixed models or an interracial family,” along with “white influencers… baking their skin” and “braiding their hair” – i.e., trying to look less white - is merely bolstering “a pre-existing racial hierarchy” and “ensuring that whiteness remains fixed at the top.”

Or, put another way, by reducing the ubiquity of pale skin, its status as a default - by becoming, as it were, browner - we are somehow simultaneously exalting pale skin. This, then, is the alleged “insistence on white superiority.”

I know. Do help yourselves to drinks.

Comments

[Sam Duncan]

“Isn’t the contemporary idealisation of mixedness – the suggestion that we are more beautiful or have 'the best of both' – simply the other side of the same coin?”

Dunno. But I'm fairly sure that complaining about “proximity to whiteness” and people not “living as black” is the same side of it.

[David]

But I’m fairly sure that complaining about “proximity to whiteness” and people not “living as black” is the same side of it.

[ Slides poorly sellotaped bag of crisps along bar. ]

[randian]

Braiding your hair is looking less white? Whites didn't copy braiding (as such) from blacks, it was independently invented across many cultures.

[Adam]

Spoken like a true neurotic. Always searching for and finding the hidden insult behind every compliment.

“I love your hair” (“She thinks I’m fat!”)
“Congratulations on your PhD in microbiology” (“Racist pig thinks I’m fat”!)

[David]

Spoken like a true neurotic.

Well, the broader theme does seem to be that the way to get past fixating neurotically on racial categories is to fixate neurotically on racial categories. Say, by invoking “Blackness” as if it were both a credential and something unfathomable – and rumbling about “whiteness” and “proximity” to it.

And which, it has to be said, isn’t awfully convincing.

[David]

it was independently invented across many cultures.

The point being, it seems unlikely that the young women braiding their hair or trying to make their skin browner are doing so in order to insist on white superiority. People more typically try to take on the appearance of whatever they regard as statusful. Which, in this case, isn’t pallor.

[Burnsie]

This is what you write when you're running out of things to complain about. The well is running dry.

[Trimegistus]

With this kind of hyper-Wokeness I think it's always instructive to consider whether a Grand Kleagle in 1930s Alabama would agree with what they're saying, if slightly rephrased. "It's a disgrace for a nice white girl to try to make herself look like a ******!"

Natalie Morris and the Klan are in 100% agreement.

[David]

And then there’s the conceit that Meghan Markle’s loss of regard among the British public can only be explained by her being “proud and outspoken about her Black heritage.” And not the belated realisation that she’s a common opportunist, a narcissistic grifter, and quite obnoxious.

[asiaseen]

As an 82 year-old white male I found it depressingly oppressive and offensive when a teenage Chinese female student described me as "handsome man" during an art class for which I had been modelling.

[Felicity]

I know. Do help yourselves to drinks.

Lols, mind reader. About halfway through I tore the top off a bottle of Chardonnay.

[Felicity]

common opportunist

Common Opportunists- band name

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

And not the belated realisation that she’s a common opportunist, a narcissistic grifter, and quite obnoxious.

Speaking of the opposite, sad to hear of Prince Phillip, obviously you lot in Blighty have more perspective then we on the west of the pond and south of the 48th Parallel, but it always seemed he and the Queen were a genuine article.

That the Cult of Markle would disparage them as racists and Nazis (both actually having fought real ones) is as pathetic as it is, unfortunately, unsurprising.

[David]

sad to hear of Prince Philip,

I actually met him once, very briefly, when I was a wee seedling. He came to see some school project I was involved in. I remember him being very tall.

[David]

About halfway through I tore the top off a bottle of Chardonnay.

Would you like a glass, or is that just needless washing-up?

[can't-come-up-with-a-name-right-now]

Long-time lurker (from Canada), first-time commenter.

sad to hear of Prince Phillip

Indeed. I've thought to myself over the years that it'd be great to hang out with the Queen and Prince Philip for a while. I suspect that in private they'd be an absolute hoot. They've seen so much; had a front-row seat to so much history.

[rechill]

Know what I find horribly unattractive?:
Smug, pedantic racists who are always going on about their skin color (and that of others) who find everything "problematic".

[John Lewis]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2021/04/09/48-prince-philips-greatest-quotes-funny-moments/

A good list of his gloriously non-pc utterances over so many years.

RIP.

[MC]

Having checked out her photo, it seems unlikely that she's forever fighting off racist compliments.

blackfishing Say what now? Oh, aggressively hair-braiding and having a massive arse. I see (I don't see).

I have learned, from the internet, that many black Americans maintain that they invented everything, only to have it stolen from them by white people and perhaps latterly, Asians. I confess I don't understand why, with such a wellspring of creativity, they don't invent new stuff to confound the white man and his oppression.

[pst314]

I have learned, from the internet, that many black Americans maintain that they invented everything...

Remember when Soviet Union propaganda proclaimed that Russia invented, well, almost everything? These black fools take that to a level of absurdity never before seen. But then, their average IQ is far below that of a KGB officer. (Not that they need to be smart to successfully propagandize other morons.)

(I am not clear how large a percentage of those people believe this garbage.)

[Felicity]

Would you like a glass, or is that just needless washing up

Needless washing up, pass me another bottle while you are there...

RIP Prince Philip

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Absurdly high California real estate prices are another reason why People of Color are oppressed in AmeriKKKa.

[Steve E]

and south of the 48th Parallel

Are you ceding 1-degree of latitude to us hosers? I've always had my eye on Havre, Montana.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Yeah, because it means you get a slice of prime moonbat NW Washington too, thank me later...

[Steve E]

sad to hear of Prince Phillip

I was hoping he would make it past his next birthday. You get a letter from the Queen when you turn 100 in the Commonwealth.

[Dr. Chaotica]

Needless washing up, pass me another bottle while you are there...

You probably should use a glass. If you follow the proper procedure for tearing the top off a bottle of Chardonnay, there will be sharp edges. Drinking directly from the bottle is not recommended.

[David]

You probably should use a glass.

I wouldn’t mind, but it’s the way she uses her teeth.

[Carlos]

Whites didn't copy braiding (as such) from blacks, it was independently invented across many cultures

She's not talking about Pippi Longstocking hair braiding, but about white girls with cornrows, or something along those lines. It's quite a tight and severe look on young white girls, as if they're trying to downplay the natural freshness and brightness of their hair.

There's a college basketball player called Paige Bueckers who got a lot of hype in the recent championship for some combination of (a) being very good at her sport while (b) looking like Steffi Graf. Bueckers, having spent her formative years in an urban basketball milieu, could actually be mistaken for black in her speech patterns and body language. She wears her hair in these tight braids that are, I don't know, at least black-influenced. But she also gets a girl-next-door treatment from the media, and it's understandable that black players could be envious, and wonder what they have to do to have the media look at them that way.

Diversity brings inequality to the surface, and pretty white girls have an advantage. They can put on glasses and get more nerd cred than the nerds. They can put on fake tan and get more exotic cred than the exotics. The mulatta is resentful because people like her are on every page of the Ikea catalog now, so she should be enjoying the fruits of her victory and the humiliation of her enemies, but men still don't look at her the way they look at some Becky who has to do 100 squats/day to get her ass to be twerkworthy.

[Ruprecht]

This is what you write when you hate your white half and hope to turn a negative into a positive and score virtue points.

[Liz]

Instalanche!

[David]

Instalanche!

Stash your valuables in your socks.

[pst314]

Stash your valuables in your socks.

Sounds just like my diverse urban public high school. Pee before you leave home. If you use the gents here you may get robbed.

Damn that Ed Driscoll for sending his riff-raff down the street to David's fine establishment!

[Alex DeWynter]

It's interesting that those who bitch so long and loud about 'white proximity' never seem to take any steps to get away from said whites. Like, say, moving to sub-Saharan Africa.

[Uma Thurmond's Feet]

Diversity brings inequality to the surface, and pretty white girls have an advantage.

The Anna Kournikova rule. Modest achievements, yet she got more publicity and endorsement money than Martina Navratilova.

Success breeds its own forms of jealousy. Academics who write best-selling books for the mainstream like Stephen E. Ambrose are looked down upon by those who publish far less-successful books (note: He had his troubles late in life with plagiarism allegations, but you can substitute science popularizers instead).

[Uma Thurmond's Feet]

Then there's Jennifer Weiner, who not only bears an unfortunate name, but also writes best-selling women's fiction. Here's her observation of a dinner at a major book convention (paragraphed by moi):

All through dinner, I’m fascinated by the cliques.

The literary authors — the folks whose books get long, respectful reviews in The Times and go on to sell 10,000 copies — ignore the commercial types.

The commercial novelists — those whose books are ignored by The Times and get reviewed in Cosmo and People, and go on to sell 100,000 copies — shun the sci-fi folks, whose books are published in paperback, reviewed nowhere, and sell even more.

And everyone seems to ostracize the bubbly, babbling first-time novelist who announces that she’s been working on her book “since college, which was an embarrassingly short time ago.” Somebody actually groans out loud.

I sit back in satisfaction. There’s a nerd at the table, and for once, it isn’t me.

[Stephen J.]

If she wanted to make the point that reductive objectification of somebody for the specifics of personal appearance is generally a poor way to treat a person -- whatever the reasoning for it -- I wouldn't have had any objection.

But a criticism that applies to everyone can't be used to exalt one group over another, which is why Morris has to resort to the kafkatrap of her final argument. If approaching another group benevolently is patronizing privilege, and approaching them malevolently is hostile oppression, then there is literally no way out of that paradigm short of total mutual disseverance.

[Daniel Ream]

wonder what they have to do to have the media look at them that way

While I see the point you're making, there's some pinhead angel-dancing going on here. Nobody cares about women's basketball, no one watches it, colleges had to have a legal gun put to their heads to even offer it because it's a net drain on the school.

I don't dispute the "pretty white girls have it easier", but I do wonder how much of the attention Bueckers gets derives from the fact that she's exotic for her context. Black women in all-white sports also get a disproportionate share of the media spotlight.

Also no one gives hot chicks in glasses "nerd cred". We all know they're faking.

[jack burton]

My three bi-racial kids, and their kids, are all beautiful in body and spirit. I reject any other attitude.

[Darleen]

She's not talking about Pippi Longstocking hair braiding,

Carlos, are you laboring under the misperception that two long braids is/was the only type of hair-braiding done by the lesser melanined "races"?

[The Sanity Inspector]

No matter what change happens, there is always a malcontent somewhere who just won't accept it, even if the change is what they've been seeking all this while.

[pst314]

No matter what change happens, there is always a malcontent somewhere who just won't accept it, even if the change is what they've been seeking all this while.

Indeed. There were science fiction fans who lamented the outcast status of the genre but then grumbled when it became popular. There were blacks who naturally hated the prejudice and discrimination of the 1940's and 50's, but who felt a great sense of loss when laws and social barriers were broken down--because they noticed a lessening of the feeling of black solidarity where every black stranger was automatically a "brother". Somebody once wrote an essay about this which was built on the history of the booklets for black travelers telling them where they could find a hotel, gas station and auto repair, restaurant, clothing store, etc.

[pst314]

I do wonder how much of the attention Bueckers gets derives from the fact that she's exotic for her context.

In a culture with lots of pale-skinned blondes, the prevalent fashions and personal products will be so geared, but those with black or curly hair or darker skin will get favorable attention because of their rarity. And so on. And sometimes typical looking people will alter their appearance because of a fondness for that different/exotic--hence blonde Japanese girls with deep suntans. It's all good, all fun, no reason to be offended, especially when you remember that people have been creatively adorning themselves since before history.

[anon a mouse]

Remember when Soviet Union propaganda proclaimed that Russia invented, well, almost everything?"

"I know this saying. It was invented in Russia"

[pst314]

Pippi Longstocking

I have a confused and obviously faulty memory of Pippi saying "Ishkabibble I should care" which must be incorrect as "ishkabibble" is Yiddish.* Did Pippi say "I don't care" in some other memorable way? (Take this as a lesson in how memories can warp and merge over many decades.)

* I wonder what Yiddish would sound like when spoken by the Swedish Chef. I love the idea, but fear that Sholem Aleichem might rise up just to smite me.

[Uma Thurmond's Feet]

There were blacks who naturally hated the prejudice and discrimination of the 1940's and 50's, but who felt a great sense of loss when laws and social barriers were broken down--because they noticed a lessening of the feeling of black solidarity where every black stranger was automatically a "brother".

It was that, but destroying the Jim Crow laws gave blacks the agency to buy their produce, homes, and services from anyone. Black-owned businesses had to compete more for their customers, and some couldn't make it.

(Although I suspect a huge amount of destruction came at the hands of liberal governments who, in the name of "urban renewal," destroyed black neighborhoods in the name of progress during the late '60s. I realized this when I saw the name "Brooklyn" on the map of downtown Charlotte, N.C. I wondered why that area, the home of large parking lots, government buildings, and Section 8 housing projects, had a name. I didn't realize that Brooklyn was a small neighborhood outside downtown, and it had been razed in the '60s so thoroughly that there was no sign it ever existed.)

[Steve E]

I have a confused and obviously faulty memory of Pippi saying "Ishkabibble I should care"

I'm not sure what Pippi Longstocking would say but Pepi Longsocks would throw his friends through the air like the hammer throw and then laugh at the potato joke.

[Darleen]

"I know this saying. It was invented in Russia"

[anon a mouse]

*sigh*

[pst314]

Black-owned businesses had to compete more for their customers, and some couldn't make it.

Yes.

Although I suspect a huge amount of destruction came at the hands of liberal governments who, in the name of "urban renewal," destroyed black neighborhoods in the name of progress during the late '60s.

Not just black neighborhoods: Milwaukee razed a black neighborhood, an Italian neighborhood, and a working class white neighborhood to build freeways. (And that ignores what was done on the South Side of the city.)

[Sam Duncan]

“[ Slides poorly sellotaped bag of crisps along bar. ]”

Ooh, ta.

Er. What are the blue bits?

[Darleen]

*sigh*

? I shouldn't have recognized the quote?

[Megaera]

Um, Which blue bits, now? The ones that move on their own, or the ones that don't? For now, at least.

[Sally]

Tell her she’s godawful ugly. Solves that problem.

[Alice]

Ms Morris tells us that in her youth not being white and not looking like the women seen most often in media and advertising made her feel “insecure.” (“I remember the distinct feeling of wanting to shrink myself, melt myself down into something neater, smaller, sleeker – which is how I saw my white friends, and the beautiful white people on TV.”) And yet now, when women who resemble her, racially, are all but ubiquitous in media and advertising – way out of proportion to actual demographics, and even added anachronistically to historical dramas - this is also a cause of unhappiness and resentment, an excuse for convoluted theories of racial victimhood.

That. She sounds like someone who doesn't want to be happy.

[PiperPaul]

She sounds like someone who doesn't want to be happy.

And she wants to spread that unhappiness, possibly because doing so does make her happy. Misery loves company and all that.

[David]

That. She sounds like someone who doesn’t want to be happy.

Well, this mix of anhedonic contortion and racial preoccupation is not a great way to go through life. Though it is a way to gain woke kudos, a way to be fashionable among the pretentious and neurotic.

One should, I think, choose wisely.

[Richard]

Wow! Show me anyone who wasn't embarrassed by something about their body in their early teens. I hated my teeth and acne and still remember it 50 years later. I'm sure even Bill Gates wishes he was more handsome when he was a teenager. She's just playing on this and the lower case white and the Upper case Black is just racist.

[Glyn]

Yet another entry from the Guardian stable of "Daft bints 'R'us." I'll give it foive.
Any chance of a Bovril and marmalade sarnie? I've brought my own bread.

[David]

Any chance of a Bovril and marmalade sarnie? I’ve brought my own bread.

[ Slides along bar a tray of small jars, dusty and encrusted. The tray is labelled “preserves.” In quotation marks. ]

[asiaseen]

Which blue bits, now?

The ones that used to hold the salt.

It was a major bonus if you got a packet with two blue twists in it (in prehistoric times, of course)

[Burnsie]

"In the 1930s and 1940s, there were groups warning about the dangers of “race crossing”; there were calls for mixed people to be sterilised; we were denigrated as deviant, stupid, contaminated, undesirable"

She's even attacking Margaret Sanger and Planned Parenthood? Wow.

Actually, something else was going during that era that took up a lot of everyone's attention. Can't put my finger on it, but I'm pretty sure "race crossing" wasn't really the hot-button issue of the time.

[sH2]

Off topic (kinda):

https://twitchy.com/samj-3930/2021/04/08/how-dare-you-say-my-own-is-decided-by-the-color-of-my-skin-calvin-robinson-takes-on-activist-ken-hinds-in-epic-debate-watch/

[Sam]

Sounds like someone was staring down her deadline and looking around the room until catching herself in the mirror.

[WTP]

See, this is why I hate everybody. One thing this pandemic has taught me...well reminded me as I discovered this years ago but it disgusted me so I eventually forgot it...is the greater I express my anger, disgust, dismissal, and belittlement of pretty much everyone I know, while the people I never really cared for anyway seem to have gone away, the rest are more inclined to defer to my greater "wisdom". I truly think that by switching to a diet that involves hourly doses of vodka, I could really kick some ass in my few remaining years. I don't know how long I could live with myself that way but I truly believe it would greatly enhance my ability to live with others. Plus, not sure if I could keep the energy factor high enough for long enough.

[pst314]

See, this is why I hate everybody...

The older I get, the less patience I have with bullshit ideas and bullshit people.

Have a drink on me.

"...One thing this pandemic has taught me...is the greater I express my anger, disgust, dismissal, and belittlement of pretty much everyone I know, while the people I never really cared for anyway seem to have gone away, the rest are more inclined to defer to my greater 'wisdom'."

You shifted the Overton Window? :-) I have indeed found that people will adjust their opinions to get along with friends and relatives. For instance, I have known people to move significantly to the left after marrying a leftist or joining an interest group in which most of the members were leftists. (Conclusion: do not marry leftists, do not join leftist groups, and do not welcome leftists into non-leftist groups.)

Here have another drink on me.

[Steve E]

David, have the henchlesbians stopped working the door?

[pst314]

"So I'm a white woman and I've been guilty of complimenting black women...[every remaining word of Whitney's comment]"

Er, what? What you describe is something I have never encountered in my life. (Except for the "black people are ugly" which one racist boss told me 50 years ago.)

[Trevor]

Black-owned businesses had to compete more for their customers, and some couldn't make it.

Here in the UK, all through my lifetime, businesses owned and run by West Indians have been distinguished by taking a somewhat, er, counter-intuitive approach to the notion of customer service which does not always encourage repeat visits. Just sayin'.

[Herp McDerp]

When I hear the words "systemic racism," I reach for my seltzer bottle.

I have to wonder about the Black supremacists who claim to have invented everything only to have it all stolen by the White Devils. How, having stolen their marvelous inventions, did we remove the concepts from their heads? One would think that such elementary ideas as "written language" and "the wheel" might stick in the consciousness of at least one sub-Saharan African, but apparently we White Devils were very thorough.

[WTP]

You shifted the Overton Window?

Heh. Perhaps maybe in a few insignificant minds...but I see where I tumbled off the point that I was trying to make in my clumsy, irritated way. I think what really disgusts me is who horribly weak people have shown themselves to be. The leadership from the right is so bloody afraid to lead even these people somewhat on the right of center, even significantly right, so they follow the strong horse. That being the lunatic left.

It would take way too long to accurately get across much of what I'm seeing, but what I'm seeing is pretty close to terrifying. Our cops are weak, our military is weak, it's pathetic. Because none of these people understand what they believe nor why they believe it. They're just going along with what they perceive everyone else to believe.

[pst314]

"They're just going along with what they perceive everyone else to believe."

Their perceptions are largely controlled by the left which controls most sources of information.

[pst314]

How, having stolen their marvelous inventions, did we remove the concepts from their heads?

Low average IQ, so that half the people have an IQ below about 85. In other words, limited ability to reason. Add to that the horrendously bad public schools, so nobody has taught them how to reason.

[pst314]

"Here in the UK, all through my lifetime, businesses owned and run by West Indians have been distinguished by taking a somewhat, er, counter-intuitive approach to the notion of customer service which does not always encourage repeat visits."

Then how do they stay in business and in fact succeed? Or is such an approach necessary to survive in the wilds of contemporary England? Also, I am not aware of West Indian merchants having such a reputation here in the States.

[pst314]

I do not like this Dilbert future: "We have reached a point where anyone can point at a zebra, call it a duck, and no one even blinks."

[pst314]

David, have the henchlesbians stopped working the door?

I think that was a drive-by and Whitney will not be back to follow up on her comment. Would I be rude to say "troll"?

[Trevor]

Then how do they stay in business and in fact succeed? Or is such an approach necessary to survive in the wilds of contemporary England? Also, I am not aware of West Indian merchants having such a reputation here in the States.

I claim no knowledge of life in your country but doubt that the phenomenon of 'subsistence retail' is completely unknown there: it is indeed a mystery how some businesses survive, but survive they do (or did until the advent of lockdowns). This clip from a popular (and wildly funny) comedy sketch show from the 90s might give you an idea of the approach I mentioned. It's slightly exaggerated for comedic effect - with the emphasis on slightly.

[WTP]

This Dilbert future has been coming on for decades now

[WTP]

Popular and wildly funny comedy sketch from the 90's? West Indians, you say? Hey, Mon! What you mean you only work two jobs?

[pst314]

It's slightly exaggerated for comedic effect - with the emphasis on slightly.

Good Lord.

[pst314]

This Dilbert future has been coming on for decades now

Tolerating leftists was a serious mistake.

[WTP]

Not standing up to leftists was a serious mistake. Letting them control the narrative was a serious mistake. Letting them march through the institutions, thinking that pure reason coupled with in-group ridicule would rule the day was a mistake. Failure to grow a pair and drive home the message without fear of "going to war with people who buy ink by the barrel" was a mistake. It was just f****g ink. And to this very day, conservatives..."conservatives", even Trump friendly ones still cannot seize the f*****g day.

[Steve E]

I think that was a drive-by and Whitney will not be back to follow up on her comment. Would I be rude to say "troll"?

Not rude at all. I had to read the post several times looking for the "/s". It was so over-the-top ridiculous. There are trolls (I'm sure they have a specific name) who will drop comments like that so they can later point back at a site and claim it's racist, sexist, fill-in-the-blank. But there are some seriously deficient people out there. Hard to tell which is which these days.

[pst314]

WTP: I still know "conservatives" who have that "better dead than rude" attitude.

[John Lewis]

I’m extremely surprised that Fox was willing to publish that article. Their conduct, peaking during the election, had me convinced they were firmly in the establishment camp.

[pst314]

Not rude at all...

I probably should have terminated my question with "/s".

...There are trolls (I'm sure they have a specific name)...

Strawman sockpuppet? Moby?

...who will drop comments like that so they can later point back at a site and claim it's racist, sexist, fill-in-the-blank.

Indeed.

[WTP]

Yes, conservatives..."conservatives", like this weepy, woozy, worthless POS whom the GOP made their leader back in 2007. They have been trying to lose for decades now. But hey, now that civilization is on the edge of falling back into fascism (at best), good for some people to wake up.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Marxism pays well, Part 2.

[Steve E]

Marxism pays well, Part 2.

Beats working.

[WTP]

Beats working

From further down on that thread…here is a prime example. Where is the leadership from the right to explain to people that jobs do not exist to support the employees, they exist to serve the customers? It is not a bank's responsibility to feed the children of whomever stumbles their way through an employment process. That's not cruelty, that's simply the facts of life. People, even in government schools understood this 100 years ago. WTF does this congress person get away with perpetuating such ignorance?

[David]

From the archives and not entirely unrelated.

In which, a woman who makes a living guilt-milking lefties complains about how insufferable guilt-lactating lefties are.

[pst314]

In which, a woman who makes a living guilt-milking lefties

Perhaps her poetry is not good enough to stand on its own but requires a large foundation of political grievance theater. ;-)

[David]

Perhaps her poetry is not good enough to stand on its own but requires a large foundation of political grievance theater. ;-)

As a general rule, the smaller the talent, the more likely the guilt-milking.

[Squires]

Beats working.

Hard to say which is more revolting: the boilerplate dissemblance issuing from Commissar Tinymouth, or the worshipful concern and flattery he received in response.

WTF does this congress person get away with perpetuating such ignorance?

It’s what a sufficiently numerous constituency wants to hear.

Just wait to see what they’ll say when even their own supporters’ votes no longer matter.

[pst314]

David, have the henchlesbians stopped working the door?

David, if the henchlesbians cannot provide 24/7 security I know that Zoot, Midget, and Dingo are looking for work, and they assure me that they are fully capable of administering punishment.

[Daniel Ream]

Did this "Whitney"'s comment get deleted? Because it isn't showing up for me. TypePad seems to do odd things with comment visibility, at least for me.

[Steve E]

Did this "Whitney"'s comment get deleted?

I don't see it any more. I credit the henchlesbians because they'll take credit for it anyway. I'm not going to get into it with Big Bertha.

Without repeating what was said, the comment was outrageously obtuse and difficult to take seriously, which is why I didn't engage the commenter directly. Removing it was the right thing to do. Low as they may be, this place does have standards. I'm speaking as someone who has had several decent jackets burned in the alley.

[pst314]

I'm speaking as someone who has had several decent jackets burned in the alley.

That's why every fall I buy a dozen identical jackets from Dibbler Discount Outfitters.

[pst314]

USN milblogger troll ejection procedure

[pst314]

Don’t Oppress My People With Your Acceptance And Compliments

[ Silently tallies remaining jackets in wardrobe ] Well I think it's charmingly quaint how you folks back in the Old Country misspell words like 'aluminum' and 'categorize'.

[pst314]

I actually met him once, very briefly, when I was a wee seedling...

That's funny, you don't look Entish.