Pansynthesis

[In case it needs to be said: I don't agree with every word of everything I link to. --L.]

Nothing new about tea partiers

One of the most evocative examples of how media bias towards novelty works in politics has to be the way that mainstream media is covering the teabagger movement. Any fool could see from the outset that the teabaggers are a bunch of Fox News-addled right wing nuts that are sore losers whose anger is exacerbated by racist resentments. But the mainstream media insists on covering it like it’s an exciting, fresh shift in the political landscape. I don’t think they’re carrying Republican water on this issue, though. I think the eagerness to run with this “teabaggers are fed-up independents” narrative is stoked by a desire for novelty above all other things. But it defies common sense. [...]

On that subject, it’s worth pointing out that the original sin of the Democrats that created legions of youstabees was the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1965. Digby has a handy chart showing how the Democrats basically lost their ability to command national majorities of white voters after that.

Seriously, why are they so obsessed with rape metaphors?

[TRIGGER WARNING. --L.]

I’m not usually one to do this, but I’m going to put the image I’m talking about below the fold at the bottom of this post, because it’s so gross I don’t want to foul up the front page of Pandagon. And since we’re not really squeamish here, that’s saying a lot. I wouldn’t post it at all, but it helps to understand the discussion if you can see it. It’s a cartoon that Darleen Click of Protein Wisdom drew, and it shows Obama getting up after having just raped the Statue of Liberty, telling her she “consented” in 2008 by electing him while she sobs. He also promises to come back to gang rape her with immigration reform, amongst other things. [...]

The callousness to actual rape victims on display here is simply a more explicit version of a rhetorical trope that’s been in play since Obama took office, and has really escalated as the favorite metaphor used by conservatives to describe health care reform. Maybe having gone through a literal sexual assault makes me a little quicker to pick up on this, or maybe it’s just really obvious, but the non-stop bleating about how health care reform is being shoved down various throats is a rape metaphor. In its most abstract, maybe not, but they dwell on it so much that it’s hard to forget that it’s a rape metaphor, even if it’s a mainstreamed one. Every time Limbaugh squawks about having to bend over and take it? Rape metaphor. Rape is not only the favorite metaphor conservatives use for health care reform, it’s quickly becoming the only one.

How does this make me feel? I’m not really in a position to speak for most rape survivors, but what I personally feel is frustrated and pissed off. Every time I hear a conservative use rape as a metaphor where they cast themselves as the hapless victims, I want to point out that this means all their rape apology crap is clearly that—misogynist crap.

Let me explain. When it comes to actual rapes, the right wing position is that the problem of rape is way overblown, and that most rapes—most anything that gets called a date or acquaintance rape—aren’t a matter of men forcing themselves on women because they enjoy raping, but just bad sex that sluts regret later and therefore “cry rape”. Take for instance the debate on the BBC where Heather MacDonald basically denied that the vast majority of campus rapes were actual rape. It’s not fun having people imply to your face that you’re the sort of person who would lie about a good man for no reason except shame that you don’t have about sex or perhaps spite that you never felt towards the guy until he raped you. But that’s the least of the problems with this narrative. The big one is that the narrative conservatives tell obscures the fact that rapists rape because they enjoy the power trip over their victims. For whatever reason, a lot of right wingers like to push the idea that rape is a matter of innocent men getting mixed signals, which simply isn’t the reality of the situation. Rapists are predators and ordinary men are actually pretty good at understanding when a woman they’re on a date with isn’t into the sex.

But what’s both fascinating and frustrating is that when conservatives aren’t apologizing for actual rapists, it seems their understanding of what rape is reflects reality pretty well. When they use rape metaphors when describing health care, they contextualize rape as a brutal crime, a display of power over the victim for the sheer pleasure of forcing her to submit. This cartoon reflects this understanding; there’s no question that the Obama-rapist in the cartoon was confused about his Liberty-victim’s unwillingness to have sex with him. In this cartoon, in fact, the Obama-rapist gets off on the sadistic pleasure of hurting her. Which is like real life rape, but completely opposite of what conservatives say happens in these rape situations.

So, they clearly know what rape is all about, when they’re casting themselves as the victims. But when real life women are real life victims of rape, suddenly they go stupid and think it’s all a matter of too much alcohol or mixed signals. And that level of full-of-shitness pisses me off.

There is literally nothing about Sarah Palin that’s genuine

The promo never says that Palin interviews Keith, Welch, or Uncle L – never even says she “profiles” them. Unless I miss my guess, “Real American Stories” (or at least the segment involving these famous people) is going to consist entirely of previously existing footage, cut together with America’s sweetheart giving folksy interstitials in front of a bluescreen. It’s extremely lazy television, and happens all the time – just not usually with this much fanfare.

Maybe they don’t want to be happy

Since traffic not only makes global warming worse and eats up productivity, but it also makes people so unhappy, we should really work on reducing it through increased public transportation, telecommuting, and of course, congestion pricing. All great points, but to my mind, this unsurprising statistic about how traffic makes people so unhappy should be a reminder not to overrate the importance of happiness to people making decisions.

Focusing on what makes people happy is a big trend right now, and I generally applaud it because it has the potential to open people’s eyes and get them to look at mundane issues in new ways. But I don’t think it’s useful to assume that whatever increases people’s happiness is what they’re going to want. [...]

Until you understand this, the outrage over health care reform will never make sense. From the rational actor/happiness project perspective, there is no reason for your average middle class tea bagger to be up in arms over this health care reform package. It won’t do anything to hurt them, and for a lot of them, it will have substantial benefits. The simple reduction in fear of being unemployed alone should argue for it, as should the ability of middle class people to continue doing what they already do, which is extending young adulthood for their children until their mid-20s so those kids can situate themselves into more lucrative and stable careers. I could go on, but seriously, the package has a ton of goodies for these folks. And yet they freak out. Don’t they want to be happy?

The next round of excuse-making for rapist coddlers

[...] Of all the bullshit that Douthat spreads around, blaming rape on a “permissive sexual culture” may be the biggest honking lie he’s ever told. Like Atrios noted, it demonstrates that Douthat, like his other patriarchal brethren, rejects the idea that consent is a relevant aspect of sexuality. When your religion is one where a man raping a small child and a consenting couple of adults making love with a condom are basically the same, then it’s a quick jump to this sort of bullshit. …For instance, Douthat is using this scandal to insinuate that if it weren’t for legal condoms, the children would go unraped. [...]

Attitudes like this disgust your average person now, and it’s not because conservatives collectively decided that rape and sexual abuse were wrong and should be stopped. No, the people responsible, the people who have made it possible for these victims to speak out, are the very people that Douthat and Donohue sneer at as encouraging a “permissive” sexual culture with our birth control and abortions.

Yep, the feminists. If you’re comfortable speaking out against child rape, thank a feminist.

…it was feminists who pointed out that a system of male domination over women and children encouraged rape. The fact that we went from a culture that was hush-hush about child rape to one where school children are instructed to tell on any adult who touches them inappropriately is because feminists spoke out about rape. And then they saw the connection between rape of women and rape of children. And they insisted that children be taught to respect their own health and well-being over the patriarchal pecking order that child rapists like these priests exploit. Without feminism, you have prevailing attitudes like Donohue’s, where protecting male authority is so important that you squabble with rape victims over how raped they should feel.

The next round of excuse-making for rapist coddlers

[...] Of all the bullshit that Douthat spreads around, blaming rape on a “permissive sexual culture” may be the biggest honking lie he’s ever told. Like Atrios noted, it demonstrates that Douthat, like his other patriarchal brethren, rejects the idea that consent is a relevant aspect of sexuality. When your religion is one where a man raping a small child and a consenting couple of adults making love with a condom are basically the same, then it’s a quick jump to this sort of bullshit. …For instance, Douthat is using this scandal to insinuate that if it weren’t for legal condoms, the children would go unraped. [...]

Attitudes like this disgust your average person now, and it’s not because conservatives collectively decided that rape and sexual abuse were wrong and should be stopped. No, the people responsible, the people who have made it possible for these victims to speak out, are the very people that Douthat and Donohue sneer at as encouraging a “permissive” sexual culture with our birth control and abortions.

Yep, the feminists. If you’re comfortable speaking out against child rape, thank a feminist.

…it was feminists who pointed out that a system of male domination over women and children encouraged rape. The fact that we went from a culture that was hush-hush about child rape to one where school children are instructed to tell on any adult who touches them inappropriately is because feminists spoke out about rape. And then they saw the connection between rape of women and rape of children. And they insisted that children be taught to respect their own health and well-being over the patriarchal pecking order that child rapists like these priests exploit. Without feminism, you have prevailing attitudes like Donohue’s, where protecting male authority is so important that you squabble with rape victims over how raped they should feel.

The Department of Justice defends DADT, White house stonewalling on repeal plan continues

With the clear support for repeal of DADT in almost every demographic imaginable, and clear calls for repeal from Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mullen, and the Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, it’s almost incomprehensible that this Administration, through its Department of Justice, is continuing to defend the constitutionality of [DADT]

"…Congress can and must move forward in repealing DADT in the same bill that put it into law more than 17 years ago – the defense authorization act."

[...] Bottom line – has this administration, with its continual playing of jackass footsie about paths and roads and other nonsense, already made its decision about inclusion [of a DADT repeal] in the defense authorization for this year—as in NO?

[...] In related news, last night Rachel Maddow covered the incredible garbage of a defense of DADT by the Obama Justice Department, that uses Colin Powell’s old quotes in support of the discriminatory policy when Powell has now reversed himself.

Wednesday Blogaround

Recommended Reading:

Andy: Sinead O'Connor, Thomas Roberts, and Bill Donohue Appear on Larry King to Discuss Catholic Clergy Sexual Abuse Epidemic (I. Fucking. Hate. Bill. Donohue.)

Resistance: As Seen by the Census

Chally: Keeping Up Appearances

Tami: Social Capital and Denying the Pain of Black Women

Angry Asian Man: M. Night Shyamalan Talks Last Airbender and "Diversity"

Ellen: Secretary of State Clinton Calls it Like it Is on Reducing Maternal Mortality

Legitimate Concerns

No matter what Obama says or does, they will always hate him. And he tells them they've legitimate fucking concerns. No. No, they don't. And no matter how much you suck up to them, Mr. President, they'll always hate your stinking guts.

The Bubble People

In a piece seriously and not ironically titled "How Should Conservatives Deal with the Left's Disrespect and Lack of Empathy?" the always-amusing Dr. Helen—who is totally "not saying here that liberals are psychopaths, for this would be incorrect for the most part"—suggests that one reason liberals are such assholes is because of our insularity [...]

…it's merely a factual observation that there exist throughout America a vast number of extremely conservative communities which are insular by design (and a smaller number of similarly insular progressive communities), which explicitly reject the multiculturalism of big American cities, which are diverse in both people and ideas. Calling city-dwellers the Bubblings gets it precisely backwards.

The Link(s): Wed, Mar 31st, 1pm by Lee Salazar, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Terms and conditions beyond the scope of this license may be available at leesalazar.com.