Paglia Returns

Camille Paglia lets fly on the state of the world and scores many direct hits. Among the highlights:

- "Rumsfeld is lost in some delusional state."
- "Clark reminds me of Keir Dullea in 2001: A Space Odyssey -- a blank, vacant expression, detached and affectless."
- "The distorted portrait of [Rush Limbaugh] in Newsweek was vile and meretricious."
- And on blogs, "writing isn't masturbation -- you've got to self-edit."

Ah, feel better already.

(requires Salon's watch-an-ad-get-a-story-cookie)

Comments

[Anonymous]

she stole her material from a drunk 19-year old fat girl who serves as a green party activist in her spare time cause she can't get laid.

[R. C. Dean]

I thought self-editing was masturbation?

Camille has many gifts, but insight into military and geopolitical affairs are not among them.

[Mo]

This line brought a huge grin to my face:

"One pleasure of reading the New York Times online is that I never have to see anything written by Maureen Dowd! I ignore her hypertext like spam for penis extenders."

[Sandy]

Three years ago I had the idea to write some sort of Web app to let myself post frequent essays and rants about whatever occurred to me at the time. I quickly abandoned it, as I thought a) I don't have that much insightful to say on a regular basis, and b) nobody would really want to read it anyway.

Oh, well.

Of course, I may still be right on both counts, but that doesn't mean I didn't miss the trend completely.

[Jesse Walker]

Stevie Nicks is "a true artist"?

[Douglas Fletcher]

Camille should stick to the classics. Classic rock doesn't count.

[fyodor]

When Camille is on, she's really dead on. But unfortunately, that's only about 1% of what she blabs.

[fyodor]

I must add: I love reading her anyway, BS and all!

[Jim Walsh]

How about a Camille Paglia action figure? I'd buy one...

[fyodor]

Here's a question for the peanut gallery. Is there anyone who supports US military aid to Israel who was against our campaign in Iraq? Or conversely anyone who is against US military aid to Israel who supported our campaign in Iraq? Strange how those two issues seem so closely linked in regards to people's perceptions of them.

[fyodor]

Oh, and here's another observation on Paglia: she's a strident fence-straddler! Again and again, she'll lend support to one side of an issue or to a particular politician only to go haywire in the opposite direction in her next breath!

[David Tomlin]

There are some libertarians, including many Objectivists, who are passionately pro-Israel but oppose U.S. aid. They claim Israel can kick every ass in the neighborhood without any help, and U.S aid is the only thing holding them back. Delusional, in my opinion.

[Anonymous]

She's got an interesting take on Sean Hannity, who looks to be overtaking Rush as the right-wing radio blowhard of choice. Never quite understood his appeal (Rush I can understand. . . he can be entertaining from time to time, more so in the past).

[Warren]

"Stevie Nicks is "a true artist"?"

What's up with the question mark Jesse? How can anyone question the artistic integrity of rock-n'-roll's witchy woman??? That Stevie Nicks is a 'true artist' and even a 'great artist' is self evident. Fleetwood Mac is one of the great rock bands, with several tunes sure to be embraced by generations yet to come. Her solo stuff is just as good. Besides, she's totally hot!

[david f]

now why is that fyodor? (link between support for israel, war in iraq, etc.)...

and how many people were for haiti and somalia and liberia and yugoslavia are against iraq? and how many who were for grenada and panama were against, etc.... who is pro choice and pro death penalty and pro gun control? who feels clinton did all wrong and is willing to forgive his/her own side's, um, "mis-steps"?

who feels that bush is part of an evil conspiracy? (c'mon, this guy can't even chew properly. are we to belive he's in charge of an evil empire... hrumph. that's silly)

yes there seem to be some sort of pattern, but does is say anything other than point to a cluster of beliefs? we've seen time and again that consistency is rare to come by in any of us.

sure we can discuss "uncertainty avoidance", "power distance", "individualistic / collectivistic", etc., but even with the left or right or libertarian dogmatists, broad brush is pretty tough. although fun as hell!!!!!! 🙂

i do share your questions. i do wonder about the neocons etc. but no more than i wondered about the PC left in the late 80s. or the militia folks in the mid 90s.

the question either you or thoreau posed a few weeks ago, "what would it take to change your mind on iraq" was excellent. maybe something like that would help answer your question.

two worthy questions to think about over a stiegl and a "rare bird" wild turkey... mmmmm autumn.

have a great evening, all.

drf

[MJ]

"Is there anyone who supports US military aid to Israel who was against our campaign in Iraq?"

Jimmy Carter. A large portion of the aid we send to Israel stems from the provisions of the Camp David peace accords (which also includes aid to Egypt).

[david f]

hey fyodor!

rummie knows his criteria. but they're classified. he'll tell us when we're there. caution: subject to change (you know, post hoc hypothosis, etc., moving target for justification, etc)

seriously, isn't their criteria of succes:

"preventing children from doing drugs and getting involved in sex"

or something like that?

cheers!
drf

[nm156]

The only fence Paglia would ever straddle is a vibrating one.

[Douglas Fletcher]

"How can anyone question the artistic integrity of rock-n'-roll?s witchy woman???"

Thanks once again for the benefit of your uber-vision, dude. Believe it or not, there are quite a few of us out here who've found Stevie more than hard to take from day one, and all the years passed haven't made her act any easier to swallow. I'll admit she doesn't suck as much as Madonna but that's as far as I'll go.

[Douglas Fletcher]

"How can anyone question the artistic integrity of rock-n'-roll?s witchy woman???"

Are you sure you aren't Jim Anchower?

[Warren]

Tommy Grand,
For the record, I think she's hotter today than ever.

[Tommy_Grand]

"For the record, I think she's hotter today than ever."

You are insane.

[D.A. Ridgely]

I love reading her, but when, oh when did Camille Paglia, herself, ever self-edit?

[joe]

"and how many people were for haiti and somalia and liberia and yugoslavia are against iraq?"

One here. Unlike individual actions, likelihood of success is as legitimate moral consideration when considering government initiatives. If you, personally, rush into a burning house against to try to save someone against all odds and at great risk to yourself, you are doing a noble thing. The risk actually makes it more noble. But if you force someone else to, it becomes much less noble.

I though Iraq was a fairly close call, and ultimately decided against it mainly because I doubted that Shrub's ass could cover the check his mouth wrote.

[Jason Ligon]

She is amusing to read, but I have the sneaking suspicion that she uses a roulette wheel to determine not only her subject matter, but how she feels about it today - sort of a 'random walk' theory of commentary.

[Tommy_Grand]

"Besides, she's totally hot!"

circa 1975, yes. not today

[david f]

hey joe!

why were you for us action in somalia and yugoslavia? i'm curious on this one, because i don't see any reason at all, especially for yugoslavia. and no, it's not for the "civil war" bullshit reason (it wasn't). i just feel 1) nato should be allowed to die and 2) the euros shoulda tried to solve it. you know, actually doing something other than talk and socialize...

cheers!
drf

[joe]

drf, I supported the humanitarian mission in Somalia because I thought Big Green had a good chance of successfully escorting food convoys (which we succeeded at, a fact that gets ignored in the post-mortems.) That was a noble and successful mission. As the mission changed from humanitarian to political, my support waned. I supported action in Bosnia and Kosovo because, once again, I thought we had a pretty good chance of being able to stop Serbian atrocities and end the slaughter. Again, we succeeded.

[david f]

gotcha.

thanks. what are your criteria for success given we're now in iraq?

drf

[fyodor]

drf,

"what are your criteria for success given we're now in iraq?"

If Rumsfield can't figure that out, how can you expect anyone else to? 🙂

[Pulcifer Jeremy]

EMAIL: [e-mail]
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DATE: 01/26/2004 02:01:13
Have no friends not equal to yourself.