Retardo Apologizes…
By …in the course of making new accusations. The apology:
One thing I do regret and apologise for is the assumption that academics are all wealthy. Obviously, many aren’t, especially adjunct professors. I’m sincerely sorry for assuming that about Farley.
Thank you, Retardo. Although I’m not an adjunct, I nevertheless accept your apology. The accusation(s):
Two, there’s a lot of shit over there at LGM that has pissed me off — about the only one I can read anymore without screaming is D. I bit my tongue when Bean accused the very good and decent people who did the SCHIP commercial of racism (because the commercial showed a white girl). I bit my tongue for the most part when Farley championed wargaming U.S. & Taiwan vs. China. And I’ve always resented it that Farley was for the Iraq War because the DFHs in Seattle and Portland were against it. Also, Scott’s culture-crit is rapidly descending to Zhdanovian levels: a critic’s sole purpose being to inspect and judge according to ideological content. I mean, he’s not into Ann Bartow or Ampersand (The Simpsons is an objectively evil TV show because the character of Homer plays to “fatphobic” stereotypes — really, look it up) territory yet, and God knows he’s capable of writing decent criticism, but in the last couple of years: Ugh. Also, I have a vague memory of Farley taking the position that cultural imperialism does not exist (I may be wrong about that one).
Of course, I’ve never been for the Iraq War; the point of the “hawk vs. dove” post that Retardo cited was that I found it surprising (and, at the time, a bit disturbing) that I thought the war was such a terrible idea, and that I was part of a coalition with a group of people (hippies et al), whom I had not previously been in a coalition with. Now, like his comments on my economic status, Retardo could have cleared this question up with a simple e-mail; unfortunately, he failed to do so.
Third, the crux of the problem seems to be that Retardo thinks that I’m calling him an anti-semite when I suggest that “latte sipping et al” is an anti-semitic remark. First, I’ll allow that I did paint with too broad of a brush; the term can also apply to liberal wasps. Second, I should make clear that I had no idea Retardo used the phrase; really, I didn’t know that anyone who wasn’t a hard core right-winger thought that the phrase was useful. So to be clear, Retardo; I don’t think you’re an anti-semite because you like the phrase “latte sipping elite”. I think you’re an idiot for borrowing a right wing smear phrase (one can, in fact, be anti-elitist without borrowing right wing talking points in so doing), but idiots and anti-semites do not invariably share the same space.
…to clarify once more, Retardo:
Is every manifestation of contempt for cultural and political elites anti-Semitic and rightwing in origin? Apparently it is: Farley’s definition could not be broader. Since I, like many (most?) poor people, despise a large portion of the “Best and the Brightest,” I’m an anti-Semite. Similarly, I read not too long ago that any contempt shown for those ultimate economic elites (the banking industry) is also transparent anti-Semitism, because you know how people used to go on about the Rothschilds. Since I — like anyone who’s gone through bankruptcy and indeed like all farmers in the last, say, 150 years — loathe the banking industry, I’m an anti-Semite. Sooner or later, anyone who’s ever said anything bad about Wall Street will be an anti-Semite, too. And ultimately, we’ll get to the point that all populists who loathe the Establishment are anti-Semites.
Um… no. But a phrase like “latte-sipping elite intellectual”, which was more or less manufactured in a right wing think tank, is not helpful, especially because it refers more or less explicitly to a class of people (urban intellectuals) within whom Jews are wildly overrepresented. “Technocratic Elite” strikes me as having a much different meaning; it doesn’t invoke the culture wars, doesn’t invoke urban spaces as the source of elitism, and doesn’t have a specifically right wing connotation. But then I was against the Iraq War before I was for it, or something…