{"id":9932,"date":"2007-10-05T18:55:16","date_gmt":"2007-10-06T00:55:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/proteinwisdom.com\/?p=9932"},"modified":"2007-10-05T18:55:16","modified_gmt":"2007-10-06T00:55:16","slug":"flu-update-and-some-thoughts-on-a-gay-person-of-non-color","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/proteinwisdom.com\/?p=9932","title":{"rendered":"Flu update, and some thoughts on a gay person of non-color"},"content":{"rendered":"

Still down with the flu, guys. But I’m hoping a few more days of rest will do the trick.<\/p>\n

And by “a few more days of rest,” I mean weed<\/em>. Conservatives and their “code words,” eh?<\/p>\n

Anyway, just now got to looking at Greenwald’s response<\/a> to Dan’s faggot<\/strike> post<\/a>, which I note mentions me (and my Pajamas Media affiliation) by name. Dan, on the other hand, is not mentioned by name — though Greenwald takes a screencap and posts it, lest we wingnuts try to make the post disappear down the memory hole like, say, Rick Ellers, or Wilson McEllersby (where have you gone, fellas? A nation turns it lonely eyes to you!)<\/p>\n

This is typical of the nasally phony, who, though he pretends toward being an intellectual, is really nothing more than a verbose character assassin, a predictable essayist who panders to a niche audience by gussying up their vitriol and mirroring it back to them in lengthy, often footnoted pieces larded with the kinds of fallacies of argument one finds frequently in freshman comp papers from guys named Corky that argue for marijuana legalization. The attack by implication and association is one of his favorite ploys, and he uses it here — but hey, it gets him a paycheck from Salon, and, one presumes, keeps his fruit drinks rimmed with Kosher salt and festooned with fancy paper umbrellas in bold, bright colors. So, you know, you go<\/em>, girl!<\/p>\n

My favorite bit from his ridiculous piece is this:<\/p>\n

Nothing is more sacred in the right-wing\/neocon religion than the intense fear of Muslims and the belief that they are coming to get us all.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This, of course, is not true: Because no one thinks Islamic fanatics (who, to help Greenwald out, are different from “Muslims” in the same way Eric Rudolph is different from “Christians”) have an eye on Brazilian cabana living just yet. So Glenn and his roommates, all of whom share his love for himself (if one can believe their few internet testimonials) are perfectly safe.<\/p>\n

For now, that is. Because what is<\/i> true is that Islamists don’t much care for the gays, which I take it<\/a> was Dan’s original point: Greenwald spends an inordinate amount of time feigning fear of Satan’s domestic NeoCon army, a clan of evil and closeted latent homosexuals who, when they aren’t watching tackle football with nascent chubbies, are 1) bent on establishing endless war against a largely blameless brown Other, and 2) cooking up a saucy totalitarian state (one with a hank of theocratic meat, drizzled with Constitutional puree and garnished with a goodly side of hypermasculinity disguising clearly conflicted sexuality. Seriously. Google it, people!). This “fear” — if we take him seriously (and I don’t; I think he is simply doing what he always does, and hoping to demonize the advocates of a political ideology defined by certain policy prescriptions in order to marginalize legitimate political positions) — manifests itself in a body of work that endlessly generalizes about what is, in fact, a diverse political group, one made up of classical liberals, hawkish Democrats and libertarians, many traditional Republicans, and some social conservatives.<\/p>\n

In this context, Greenwald’s suggestion that the “right wing” was overreacting to Ahmarockahmanislandinejad’s being granted ideological legitimacy by way of a speaking engagement at Columbia — a legitimacy denied to people like, say, Larry Summers or Ward Connerly at other institutions suddenly embracing free speech absolutism (one wonders if on these days, they expand their campus free speech zones a bit as a show of benevolence, or like modern day Carnivale) — seemed remarkably disingenuous. And Dan was left to wonder why someone who is a professed homosexual wishes to sniff at those who would protest giving a forum to one whose country punishes homosexuality with death, and whose eliminationist rhetoric with respect to Israel is particularly troubling in light of his country’s nuclear ambitions.<\/p>\n

Or, to put it another way, why would Greenwald concern himself with strained psychosexual explanations for why “right wingers” were interesting in protesting Columbia’s granting Ahmahumanbeatboxinajad legitimacy (it is some sort of projection of their hypermasculinist desire to see war everywhere; or else some Jew thing, I can never make it through one of Greenwald’s essays in its entirety) instead of protesting that granting of legitimacy himself? Or at the very least, why would he be afraid to acknowledge that the “right wing” has perfectly valid reasons for not wishing to grant the Iranian president legitimacy that have nothing to do with fear of Muslims, and everything to do with an embrace of liberal values.<\/p>\n

Columbia can bring in whatever speakers it wishes; but the arguments as to why bringing in certain speakers may be sending the wrong kinds of messages to those engaging us in a proxy war against us are, at the very least, worth hearing and debating.<\/p>\n

Greenwald has said that the right is a blight on the body politic. It should be marginalized, and politics returned to the right kinds of people — people who, coincidentally, just happen to share his worldview. And he is doing his part to bring this about, with rhetoric so transparent that one can see the veins pumping familiar tropes like so much elitist blue blood.<\/p>\n

For my part, I seldom give him a second thought these days, other than to marvel at the place he occupies at the progressive table. He is a talking points generator for those who count on him to turn their hatred into high sounding rhetoric. But I doubt he’s fooling anyone who isn’t either looking to be fooled, or else willing to play along with him in an attempt to see political opponents marginalized, even if that means pretending to support arguments they know to be as weak as Greenwald’s chin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Still down with the flu, guys. But I’m hoping a few more days of rest will do the trick. And by “a few more days of rest,” I mean weed. Conservatives and their “code words,” eh? Anyway, just now got to looking at Greenwald’s response to Dan’s faggot post, which I note mentions me (and my Pajamas Media affiliation) by name. Dan, on the other hand, is not mentioned by<\/p>\n

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