Therefore the ancient rule handed down to us by our forefathers, "It's OK if you are a Republican" kicks in.It's not ok if you're a Republican. But you know, I know that Rush Limbaugh hates me. I know that he would gleefully use the most misogynistic language imaginable to put me in my place, because he doesn't care that using misogynistic language hurts all women, including the ones whom he likes. (I mean, there must be some women who Rush likes. Right? Ok, maybe not. That's sort of the point.) But I would really like to think that wasn't true of people on my side of the political fence. I would like to think that people on my side of the political fence would take a minute to think "hey, when I insult a woman by calling her a slut, I reinforce a culture that depicts female sexuality as dirty and says that you can degrade any woman by implying that she likes sex too much." Every time we have one of these discussions, though, I'm reminded of how incredibly naive that is.
I don't want socialized medicine in America because of a high-minded set of ethical principles. I want it because I want to be able to go about my life and NOT WORRY ABOUT DYING BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT JOB. I don't care about drug laws because of a well-thought out philosophical position. I care because I DON'T WANT TO HAVE MY LIFE RUINED BECAUSE I SMOKED A JOINT. Would you like your child taken away from you for 15 years because he smoked a harmless chemical? Do you want spend your old age scrabbling for a few cents to pay off the monsters who would LET YOU DIE because you're poor?You know what's hilarious? (And by "hilarious", I mean "utterly infuriating".) Us potential sluts who participate in this discussion? The second we get emotional, we lose. I can't say "the word slut feels like a punch in the face. I hate that word because it's been used against me in ways that had everything to do with my being female and nothing to do with being generically "mean," and it's a painful, evil word that hurts me and makes me feel like an outsider in any conversation in which it's used." Because if I show emotion, I'm irrational and stupid and whatever I say doesn't count. If I show emotion, I'm rewarded with lectures from men who can afford to stay nice and rational and non-angry, because they don't feel like they've just been punched in the face.
All they do is use politics to sell soap and viagra. Let's keep Stewart and Colbert, and find a new Cronkite.The reason people like Cronkite is because they never heard any criticism of him. Someone like Brian Williams talks the way Cronkite used to talk but because everyone is aware of the problems with the 'neutral' media, no one takes it seriously. Except for old people, I guess.
Because if I show emotion, I'm irrational and stupid and whatever I say doesn't count. If I show emotion, I'm rewarded with lectures from men who can afford to stay nice and rational and non-angry, because they don't feel like they've just been punched in the face.Punch 'em back.
Before Shana [Alexander], our house liberal was Nicholas von Hoffman, who [sic] I reluctantly had to let go when he insisted on referring to the president of the United States, Richard Nixon, as "a dead mouse on the kitchen floor that everyone was afraid to touch and throw in the garbage." Granted, it was a difficult time and the description was not that far off target, but it wasn't the kind of thing I wanted someone to say about the president of the United States on 60 Minutes.
. . . a columnist wrote that I had taken Jack and Shana off the air because Saturday Night Live was satirizing them. . . what the silly son of a bitch should have known was that [the satire] was what had been keeing them on the air, even though the segment had run its course.
What to replace it with? I knew that Andy Rooney. . . was a hell of a writer. What I didn't know was whether he could cut it as an on-air personality. . .
-- Don Hewitt, Tell Me A Story: Fifty Years and 60 Minutes in Televisionposted by Herodios at 6:48 AM on May 26, 2011
Respectfully, no, it's completely fucking irrelevant to the point being made, which was that calling someone a "slut" doesn't necessarily signify that the caller thinks the callee is a person of despicable sexuality anymore than calling a person a "bastard" requires one to think that the person was born out of wedlock.Not really. Bastard has been generalized, like 'bitch' but 'slut' hasn't really.
At the risk of fanning flames here, maybe because it's descriptive of a certain kind of behavior? Sure, as a noun it refers derogatorily to women. But as an adjective it means profligate.Not really. I mean if you look at fox news they have all these pretty white slender blond young women reading the news along with dudes. (Seriously, not even a brunet!). One might say they're hired for their looks, so talk-sluts would be eye-candy for horny conservatives. I don't think he was using the term 'talk slut' the way people say 'cuddle slut' or whatever.
President Obama is going to be visiting Joplin, Mo., on Sunday, but you know what they're talking about, like this right-wing slut, what's her name?, Laura Ingraham? Yeah, she's a talk slut. You see, she was, back in the day, praising President Reagan when he was drinking a beer overseas. But now that Obama's doing it, they're working him over.So, "talk slut" there could possibly mean "she is morally flexible in the positions she adopts when she talks, or she will change her position in order to get on talk shows" or something like that, but directly before that he calls her a "right-wing slut", which is pretty clearly just using it as a gendered pejorative - like saying "right-wing bitch".
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posted by furiousxgeorge at 8:19 PM on May 25, 2011 [9 favorites]