Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
Some people tell me I should feel really bad about the things I have to say regarding: women. I should be more sensitive. I should acknowledge more readily the good things women do and the bad things men do.
And then it occurs to me…
…about the most wonderful thing I’ve ever written about men, is that our attributes — not the historical specimens who have represented those attributes, so much — have given people in general just about everything, today, that they value, and that do them good. We have been helped, not so much by men, but by manly things…and we run into trouble when we try to get rid of those manly things.
And just about the most ugly thing I’ve ever written about women is that some among them — not all among them, not most among them, but just some — completely fail to see anything worthwhile about men, and set out in a misguided, destructive, and utterly, utterly, doomed mission to eradicate manhood and all aptitudes associated with it. For no higher ideal than raw, naked jealousy.
In other words, I would be hard pressed to go over my archives and find something I’ve jotted down that says “all men do this” or “all women do that.” Nor do I think there’s anything in there that says “everybody who does this is a guy” and “everyone who does that is female.” I don’t think anybody else would be able to pull that out of my writings either. These seem like terribly irresponsible things to scribble out, whether others could see it or not. Easily refuted things. So when people behave as if I’ve written something like that, I don’t know what it is they’ve read. Not anything I’ve written, I daresay.
I think we’ve been programmed. Someone says something good about character traits that are masculine in nature, the knee-jerk response is “you say all men do this” or “you say all women do that” — so the responder can more easily refute…that which was not actually said.
And there are certain people, men and women, who parade their gender identities for destructive reasons. Men hiding their manhood…to try to hop on some sick bandwagon. Women showing off how poorly they get along with men…to get such a bandwagon going. The male-female partnership that you and I might have seen upheld and defended by our parents, or perhaps our grandparents, seems headed toward consignment to the ash heap of history. Or, at least, we seem to have lots of loud people in our midst, ready to channel large sums of energy and effort into an attempt to so consign.
Via Cas…I give you Margaret Cho:
Ladies, I’m sorry, there’s just no delicate way to ask this.
What in the blue fuck is the matter with some of you? Do you understand that some among you have learned to live, productively, with some of us men…and therefore, those among you who have not — let’s call you the “Margaret Cho Types” — should therefore shut up?
Because otherwise, if those among you who don’t understand how to live with men and will probably never understand how to live with men…are allowed to talk over the more mature types, who appreciate us for what we have to offer, and learn to live with us…it is a blight on all of womanhood.
Deep down, I think you all know this.
Why don’t you then just zip it shut and go away? For the benefit of the Sisterhood. Showcase those among you who have achieved maturity, and can appreciate a true symbiotic relationship across gender lines. Give the rest of us at least the appearance that you have what it takes to get along with us.
It’s not asking too much. At least, that’s the way it seems to me…
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That was Margaret’s venting after the break-up stint. She sounds like she was bitter about the ending of the relationship and wanted to exaggerate the disappointment. Notice how she used stereotypical things to compare as ‘payment’ sexual activity. Opening jars, taking out the garbage, etc. It sounds like she wanted to get married and he didn’t want to. She felt unappreciated. Her style seems to have changed, too.
I remember seeing photos of her in metro sexual style in the past. It was almost her trademark. Now, she appears more girly, like she wants to be seen as a woman. Getting out of a bad relationship, wanting to get married and have a baby, and using the comedy forum as a place to vent. People were laughing because they felt for her and have been there at one time or another. This is Margaret laughing at her pain, so I would take this isolated performance as a reflex for just “some” women. There’s nothing wrong with her at all, she’s just being human and vulnerable.
- petrita1 | 05/25/2008 @ 14:19I agree with your observations. It’s still sick as hell.
This is why I hate comedy so much lately. It works by “bonding” between the comedienne, vis a vis her illustration of herself at the time the story took place, and the audience members who shared a similar situation in the past.
The thing is, though, that kind of “bonding” can take place between shared experiences in which the protagonists act more rationally, and in better cooperation with others. But of course — if that were the case, it wouldn’t be funny anymore. So if it’s comedy, Cho is practically forced to portray herself acting in a manner that is 1) self-destructive, 2) illogically, and 3) with real antipathy toward others.
I’m partially sympathetic to this because I get pretty ticked when people pace around in high traffic areas with cell phone in hand, and if a comedian/ienne wants to poke some fun at my homicidal urges in the same way, I’ll freely admit I’d probably laugh my ass off. But that’s still a little different isn’t it? I’ve never wanted to eat a baby.
- mkfreeberg | 05/25/2008 @ 15:04True, but neither has she. Toward the end, she mentioned the possibility of adoption, like she still might want children. I couldn’t sit through a whole Margaret Cho monologue, and she isn’t nearly as funny as a lot of other female comedians out there, I was just giving my take on where all that weirdness was coming from. The last thing I want to do is analyze a comedian. I buy tickets to be entertained. 🙂
- petrita1 | 05/25/2008 @ 18:41Just an aside, not necessarily for public view: I posted the exact same comment on Cassy’s blog and she either chose not to post it, or deleted it. I saw it post, then it disappeared. Why would she be offended?
- petrita1 | 05/25/2008 @ 18:44Well the way we do it here, your comment has to be approved if you’re posting for the first time. Once I approve what you said, you’re “in” and your subsequent comments go up immediately.
For reasons I don’t entirely understand, this does not work for you.
I see this from time to time with people who post at home, and then go to work and do it again from there. I suspect WordPress wants your IP to match up with whatever you used last time, or else it treats you as a potential spammer. It makes sense in this situation because Cassy’s on WordPress too.
- mkfreeberg | 05/25/2008 @ 18:59Cho,
Yet another faux-female keeping the C-word alive in the 21st century.
If you think she’s sick, what’s with the audience that’s paying money? Especially for the men who are chortling along.
Makes me long for the old Stallone Cobra… “You’re the disease and I’m the cure.”
- vanderleun | 05/25/2008 @ 19:52