I am fascinated to note that the Asst. Perfesser has disabled commenting on his mighty mighty blog, "American Power." Nothing like the wingnutosphere's love for the frank and open exchange of ideas!
Or ... maybe it has something to do with his new taste in art?
Ah, well, I guess we will have to make our Donald Douglas jokes along with Tintin, at Sadly, No!
Or at American Nihilist and Brain Rage. But you already knew that.
__________
[Added] DD has responded in the Comments.
18 comments:
Thanks for dropping by, Prof. Douglas.
Thanks also for the invitation to debate. Perhaps someday we shall. I do not think it likely in this case, however. Take whatever admiration you have for David Horowitz and multiply it by -100, and that will approximate how I feel about him. On this matter, to borrow from someone whose name I have forgotten, sorry, but our views of reality do not overlap sufficiently to make discussion possible.
For the record, my own sense of Horowitz is this: If in the past decade he's said anything beyond "Yes, waitress, I'll have some more coffee, please" that isn't utter lunacy, it's escaped my notice. One does not engage with so determined a conspiracy theorist. One simply abandons him to his milk crate at Speakers' Corner and seeks more worthwhile voices elsewhere.
I would say in particular that this phrase from your blurb of his book -- "the freakish nihilism of the radical left" -- doesn't even make sense in light of what this book of his is supposed to be about: "the Left has continued to advance its socialist schemes …" Stipulating for the moment that We have such an Agenda, it can hardly be said to be nihilist to have one -- to seek to advance a different social order (or to foist one upon you, if you insist) is not at all the same thing as wanting to do away with any and every social order, just for the sake of destruction.
So, you see, on this matter, we do not even appear to share a common vocabulary.
(Continued next comment.)
Continuing from the previous comment …
As to the possibility of our debating in the future -- good on you for opening up your comments again, by the way -- here are a few suggestions.
1. Resist the temptation to lump everyone who does not share your views into one entity. For instance, saying "you fuckers are too damned stupid" indicates that you are not willing to make an effort to discern individuality, but that you'd rather just engage in the ritual of flag-waving. Or dick-waving, to be more precise.
2. I have to say that I pretty much agree with the example comment you have copied over, but that aside, my recommendation to you, if you are so put off by it, is to delete this one only, rather than shutting your ears and eyes to everyone. Again, we (however you want to define us) do not all speak with one voice. Convince yourself of that, because it's the truth, and until you can accept it, you will forever be condemned to howling into a lonely room, visited only by people who have come to point and laugh.
3. Starting off an invitation to debate with name-calling is probably going to get you nothing other than more of the same in return. If this is what you want, so be it, but I draw a distinction between trading stale and juvenile insults and having a debate. I will give you one point for "bonejobkeefe" in lieu of "blowjobkeefe," but as a college professor, you surely must recognize that when starting from zero, one point does not a passing grade make. You might, therefore, reconsider how you frame your invitations in the future. You might, at the very least, up your game and then we could go a few rounds of playing the dozens.
4. Realize that you write in a highly abrasive manner, and that you are fond of drawing lines between your Side and the Others -- lines that would be offensive if they were not so comically simplistic -- and so, do not be all butthurt when you get what you asked for. As a wise man once said: "… it is always very strange when people who build their career around intentionally being provocative, then affect surprise (or have surprise affected on their behalf by their friends) that their provocations have had what must surely have been the intended result - that people are angry with them."
5. Saying things, as you do in your post, like "the MEDIA-INDUSTRIAL-ISLAMIST-COMPLEX's neo-communist disinformation campaign" gets you put on the same mental crate as Horowitz.
Look, er, Brendan, this is anti-intellectual: "Take whatever admiration you have for David Horowitz and multiply it by -100, and that will approximate how I feel about him. On this matter, to borrow from someone whose name I have forgotten, sorry, but our views of reality do not overlap sufficiently to make discussion possible."
I guess we have nothing to talk about then, since with the exception of Melanie Phillips, I can't think of someone more penetratingly clear on the left's ideological campaign of death and destruction. (And you're down with that, apparently.)
And seriously, you should at least read the book (cited at the link below) before you blow off "nihilism." The left has recycled Soviet Marxism-Leninism, giving a pass to the murder of 100s of millions. When those apologies for totalitarianism --- what leftist refer to as "actually existing socialism" --- become a defense of a failed ideology, all you have left is utter nothingness, hence nihilism. Try to fit that into your vocab, big boy. And as for my colorful language, I'm pissed at the smears and attacks on my reputation. It's evil. So, I'll wave my dick if I feel like it, thank you. It's not like you haven't gotten up on a high horse of vindication with your posts.
So fine by me if you want to walk away from debate since (1) Howorwitz is beneath you, like a classic effete lefist, and (2) a "fuck you" here and there is the stop sign for futher discussion.
I'm tired of you flatulent pricks. Seriously. Perhaps you're a good guy, young and idealistic, maybe. Check back with me in a few years when you abandon the dark side.
More here: 'It's Hard Out There: The Radical Assault on American Power'. Just your kind of people, no doubt.
Just saw in my email that you had posted another comment, and for reasons beyond my understanding, it got flagged by Blogger as spam. (Maybe because you posted it four times?) Hang on a sec and I'll restore the latest.
I have to say, now that I have restored your comment of 1:57 PM, September 18, 2010, maybe I am not completely surprised that it got flagged as spam. Because it sure does read just like the wingnut chain emails one sees on Snopes, for example. Are you really a college professor? At an accredited school? And not, say, teaching math or something?
Anyway, our discussion so far:
You: Let's debate! Let's talk about David Horowitz and how great he is!
Me: There, we have nothing to talk about.
You: Let's talk about David Horowitz and how great he is! No, how he's greater than great!!!1! Because left nihilist leftist soviet marxist death evil left effete dark side BLARGH BLARGH blargh …
Me: Nice milk crate.
I don't know what was happening with the comments. I'm glad that one got through, in any case. I saved it just in case. Perhaps this one won't require four attempts.
In any case, do you seriously think that's an intelligent response to my comments? Blarrrgghh!!??
You said your definition of nihilism didn't resemble my usage, and when I give you a response, you run away. So, yeah, I guess there's nothing to debate. And actually, that's typical of leftists who refused to confront the evils of their ideology.
I was not typing "Blargh" in response to your effort to twist the definition of nihilism to fit your own preconceived notions. It was in response to everything else.
Seriously, Donald, be your age. Do you really think you're going to interest me in any sort of discussion where you start off by howling how everything Left is irredeemably evil? I'd just as soon discuss spherical geometry with a Flat Earther.
Act my age?
Hmmm. Okay. Non-response and condescension.
Typical tactic of the elitist left. You can't say I'm unwilling to debate. Arrows run the other way, actually.
You are, how should I put this? Oh, closed-minded.
Au revoir mon ami!!
You can't say I'm unwilling to debate.
I never did. I said you were not interesting me in any discussion.
Jesus. Can you even read, for comprehension? Or are you so far gone you just look for keywords that match your whacked-out view of Teh Left?
You might as well give up on tossing around the flame bait, too, Donny. "Elitist," "condescension," and "closed-minded?" Really? That all you got? If you had remembered "intolerant" you'd have scored the Wingnut Quadrafecta of Lame.
I never got this far with Don before he banned me. I think he digs your program Brendan.
That's a somewhat frightening possibility.
Hilarious exchange, Brendan. Hope you had a big bottle of aspirin or something more potent handy for when it was over. I would say that the comment blargh was as intelligent and meaningful as anything Don had to say. BTW, I see it's talk like a pirate day and it sounds somewhat piratish.
Love how he gets a nasty anonymous comment and that makes it OK to come over here and go totally expletive deleted. At his place he's all f*** you, though. I guess because we're all leftist, nihilist, Stalin apologizers we don't get our feelings hurt by his mindless vulgarity.
Personally I feel better knowing that there's the better part of the country between myself and a college professor whose leading lights are David Horowitz, Melanie Phillips and Pam Geller. At this point it's redundant to point out that he spelled Horowitz's name wrong.
Anyway, I do hope and do doubt that he will give some thought to your suggestions. We are all trying to help him. Weren't we promised re-education camps for these badthink types?
LOL! I missed that. "Howorwitz" belongs on the same placard as SASQUATCH ISRAEL!!!1!, for sure.
Glad you enjoyed the comedy. I sure did. Nope, I didn't need any aspirin at the end -- maybe I'm an odd sort, but I find baiting wingnuts to be rejuvenating.
See, this is what irritates me about the modern Right - they've self-Poe'd.
I'm sitting here scratching my head over whether Donald Douglas is actually a very clever character blog parodying neocons, or a genuine, frighteningly stupid neocon. And for the life of me, I cannot work it out.
Damn Don, howda a swarthy looking fellow like you end with a fine Scottish name Like Douglas? And a Donald to boot!? America is a wonderful place where we can all re-invent ourselves.
The Pale Scot
@That Other Mike: I get your dilemma, but in this case, I have come to the conclusion that it's likely not a parody. It's too repetitive -- I can't see anyone being good enough to pull off the act in the first place thinking it would be funny to keep doing it in the same words.
I mean, seriously, how many times can someone yell NIHILIST and MARXIST and so forth?
So, I conclude that DD is sincere, albeit seriously warped.
If true, that makes Le Donalde one of the most disturbing people I've ever seen.
I can't much disagree there, although I would point out that it's always worth keeping in mind that some people indulge themselves in hysteria moreso online than they do elsewhere.
However, if you've spent any time looking around the wingnutosphere; e.g., Pam Geller, Erick Erickson, Jim Hofte, Dan Riehl, to name but four, you know that, sadly, DD is far from unique in his comically extremist-right view of life.
On a closely related note, see Todd Gitlin's fine essay, which I linked to in my latest post.
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