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...
Reuben, Reuben, I’ve Been Thinking
Reuben, Reuben I’ve been thinking
What a fine world this would be
If the men were all transported
Far beyond the northern sea— Campfire song, orig. author unknown
The question is left in an uncertain state as to whether Lisa Arnold, 63, member of the Finance Committee of Westport, MA, thinks much of the more pumped-up male members of that city’s police force. Going by this article I have in front of me here, it seems the best thing she can find to say about them, is that if/when she’s in trouble, she’d want them to be there. I’m just sure the male cops find that quite flattering.
“If I was in trouble, I’d want one of those big moose to be there,” she said.
The bad part of the whole thing, though, is that Arnold is in trouble for a comment she was foolish enough to put in the e-mail. The comment in question speaks for itself.
[Arnold] said she was just joking when she used the remark in message to the town’s selectmen to suggest police administrative assistant Nancy Braga be recognized for her long service.
“Lord, that girl has sat over there with those testosterone gushers for 37 years and lived to tell about it,” Arnold wrote in an e-mail dated June 16.
Sgt. Thomas Plourde, president of the Police Officers of Westport Alliance, said Arnold should step down. He told the Standard-Times of New Bedford that he would ask town selectmen to look into her remarks.
Should Lisa Arnold be forced to step down? I don’t think so. I understand the nature of making jokes, and it’s unfortunate when someone chooses to do so in the e-mail forum and then gets nailed on it. What is the benefit of getting her separated from her post? None that I can see. Just continued promulgation of that asphyxiating environment wherein everybody’s afraid of saying the wrong thing in front of the wrong people, for fear the wrong advocacy group will get pissed off. I don’t believe in promulgating that environment, even when I agree with the cause for which it is promulgated — which, in this case, I do. My experience up to now with such things, suggests that this is the kind of thing that makes an agency more secretive in matters where the public would benefit from more transparency.
Do I think Westport would benefit from the investigation mentioned by Sgt. Plourde, I mean, investigation in the literal sense, not in the “get someone fired” sense? Yes, I do. If there’s an anti-cop climate in city hall, city hall owes it to the cops to look into it. Especially, to those male policemen with the huge pumped-up biceps. You know, the moose-like ones.
What if the investigation makes things so uncomfortable for committeeperson Arnold that she chooses to step down? Hey, that would be fine…so long as it remains clear that it was her choice to do so. In fact, that outcome would be ideal. Message: Jokes in the e-mail won’t necessarily get you fired, but if you have something against our manly cops, maybe you should get on a committee somewhere else.
Let’s take a look at our own houses before getting too hard on Westport. Anti-male bias…it would be more accurate to call it an anti-masculine bias…permeates so much in our national discourse. Anti-military, anti-Hooter’s, anti-meat, anti-beer, anti-might-makes-right, anti-gun. Anti-good-guy-bad-guy.
No question about it, it’s a culture war. When my dad was the age my son is now, good guys wore white hats and bad guys wore black hats, the two would meet in the main thoroughfare of a ghost town, while frightened townsfolk peeped out at them from between closed windows and drawn shutters — and the two combatants would “draw.” The bad guy would be really quick with the draw, and the good guy would be just a little bit quicker.
This classic scenario has become a unifying caricature, bundling together all the elements that are under assault now. Everything about it must be debated: the good guy’s goodness, the bad guy’s badness, the notion that victory should really go to the guy who could draw fast and shoot straight. And of course, the very notion that both of them should be “guys” at all.
Look around. Things have gotten so bad, that a good guy can be a good guy by making his living being a cop…that doesn’t mean eating doughnuts, what that means is pulling a car over, walking up to the driver’s side window and not having a freakin’ clue what’s going to happen next. And doing that all day long…and the next day, and the next day. This, to a sensible mind, is the very definition of “heroism.”
But Lisa Arnold doesn’t have such a sensible mind, it appears. And she is not alone here. Masculinity, in its rawest form, even as it makes our lives possible, is offensive to a lot of people — that is, a lot of people who can afford to be offended by things, thanks to the life and luxury masculinity has brought them. So many amongst us should be thankful, would help themselves a lot if they were thankful…and are anything but.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.