Thursday, January 24, 2008

How the Protein Wisdom Gang Blasts Out the Bigotry

Once again, I have to thank the Protein Wisdom gang for showing me the ways of right-wing bigotry. In this case, I owe a debt of gratitude to "B Moe" who's been replying to some of my posts at RSI over the last week.

B Moe picked up on a positive reference I made to Hillary's looks and re-posted it over at PW Pub with an expression of amazement that I would refer to Hillary's looks in a positive way. B Moe and other commenters in the Protein Wisdom community were amazed that I wasn't going along with the Hillary-hating stereotype that Hillary is an "ugly bitch."

When I persevered and replied that Hillary was an attractive woman who was certainly a hell of a lot better looking at 60 than Fred Thompson was at 65, I got this reply from B Moe.
You know, that is some affirmative action I could definitely get behind. Let's get the government to supply all old women with the same plastic surgeons, hair dyers and stylists, and make-up and botox artists Hillary has got. I am tired of fucking ugly, wrinkled, grey-haired old women.

/irony

In a lot of ways, this is a typical bit of misogyny. B Moe is implying Hillary who appears before the cameras might be an attractive woman (without actually conceding the point) but only because she's hiding or making over the really ugly woman under the plastic surgery, hair workers, and face artists who work on her. Of course, B Moe has no evidence of either plastic surgery or botox or that she's doing anything more with her hair than most professional women (and a lot of professional guys). But given that right-wing hatred of Hillary is based on faith rather than evidence, that's hardly surprising.

What makes B Moe's comment on all women of age 60 or so are ugly, decaying, and repulsive. He also puts in a little ambiguity with the word "fucking." In one way, it looks like B Moe is tired of older women who are "fucking ugly" and is using the term "fucking" as a way to heighten and the sexual repulsiveness he attributes to older women. But he could also be interpreted as saying that he is "tired of fucking ugly wrinkled grey-haired old women" in the sense that he's tired of having sex with these kinds of women.

Either way, he's being typically misogynistic in portraying older women as repulsive. Of course, beneath the surface of that repulsion is the suspicion that any woman would be repulsive if they weren't "beautiful" according to his personal criteria. For B Moe, it takes a special kind of woman for her to not be repulsive and therefore hated.

Another interesting aspect of B Moe's comment is that he writes "irony" underneath. I take this to mean that B Moe is claiming that he is being "ironical" here and that the bigotry in his words does not reflect any real bigotry of character. As with a lot of right-wing racists, homophobes, and misogynists, B Moe is trying to give himself a "plausible deniability" that allows him to say bigoted thing while dodging accusations that he means it.

But using the term "irony" in this way seems to have special valence for the bigots at Protein Wisdom. They seem to think that referring to their statements as ironical gives them a license to blast out their bigotry in harder, cruder terms than might otherwise be the case. Their pretensions to pseudo-intellectualistic irony seem to incite them to higher levels of public bigotry.

Maybe that's something Protein Wisdom could contribute to right-wing discourse. People like Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh are always looking for new ways to formulate their own bigotries. Maybe they should look at Protein Wisdom.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

"For B Moe, it takes a special kind of woman for her to not be repulsive and therefore hated."

Damn, you almost got one sentence right! I do not equate repulsive with hated, otherwise you are correct that it takes a special kind of woman to attract me, and it has nothing to do with hair coloring, face paint or bondo. I find Hillary repulsive for her lust for power, her dishonesty, and the general nastiness apparent just beneath the surface. Looks attract my initial attention in a woman, but generally fall way down the list as I get to know them. That is why many people not under her spell find Hillary not so attractive, but you keep on spinning it as misogyny, you really dont know any other tricks, do you?

Anonymous said...

B Moe--

Caric is a one-trick pony.

Anonymous said...

If ANYONE but you and B Moe ever read PW, you might have a point. It does get a whole 4000 visits a day (an hour of Malkin?).

--Tim

Anonymous said...

Does PW find the Bush family repulsive too? By the criteria of lust for power, dishonesty, and general nastiness, I would have to say the Bush family is quite repulsive. Based on the above criteria, can you claim that they are not repulsive?

Or is there something else about Hillary that gives a stronger reason for disdain ?

Steve B

Ric Caric said...

So does this mean that you were INITIALLY attracted to Hillary but then changed your mind?

Seriously, what makes it "misogyny" is your general sense of being repulsed by women. What I had right is that it takes "a special kind of woman not to be repulsive" to you.

Pretty sad really.

Anonymous said...

I have been sadden by the lack of outrage from Dr. Caric on the racist campaign Hillary Clinton and her supporters are running. Liberal bloggers everywhere were outraged by the comments of Andrew Cuomo to Sen. Obama: "You can't shuck and jive at a press conference."

This came during the same week as the "fairy tale" comment from Bill. It is obvious that Hillary is playing on the race divide in this country.

Your continued support of Hillary makes me wonder what principles you really do believe it.

Please address these concerns of mine. If Rush Limbaugh had made that comment you would have blasted right wing bigotry.

Ric Caric said...

What actually is your concern? Are you beginning to question your undying support for Hillary?

Anonymous said...

Here is a tip, Doc:
http://tinyurl.com/2592lc

When your hero says:

"This is almost like once you accuse someone of racism and bigotry, the facts become irrelevant."

He is making a complaint, not giving debating advice.

And for the record "it takes a special kind of woman to attract me" is not the same as "it takes "a special kind of woman not to be repulsive"" I wonder at your use of quotes in that statement, since I never said any such thing. Is this another example of the professionalization of history? The ability to quote what you want me to say rather than what I said?

B Moe

Anonymous said...

You might be right, I suppose, that Hillary is too good looking for Bill now, but I think we have found the perfect match for her:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3enFIPvnFg

B Moe