Monday, November 21, 2005

What's the Problem with Liberal Men?

So, my trip wasn't all a rollercoaster of fun and boredom. I also got very lost in Buckhead when I was supposed to be in Decatur and I sat in one Starbucks after another, which is extremely discombobulating after a while. All of them so similar; none of them quite the same. Anyway, strangely enough, I kept having these conversations with liberal lesbians that reminded me of W. As you all may recall from the manly afghan incident, I mistakenly assumed that W. was conservative. Sitting across from the second lesbian who, upon ascertaining that I was straight, leaned over and asked "So, is it true that liberal women are giving up on liberal men?" I realized that I assumed that W. was conservative because he's nice--and not in that creepy "nice guy" way, but genuinely nice. Well, holy shit. That's not really a bias you can realize in yourself without being a little shook by it. So, I was probably quieter than one might expect when it comes to gossiping about boys. But both of the women I was having coffee with have noticed that their straight liberal friends are giving up on liberal men*. One wondered if it wasn't their inability to refrain from fucking their students** and the other had this elaborate theory that we on the Left actually lack the ability to engage folks on the Right in real debate because the things we're upset about--racism, sexism, classism, fuckers in big pickup trucks pulling campers through Birmingham at 95 miles an hour with the trailer flailing behind it like a misbehaving child getting yanked outside for a spanking***, etc.--are not things that the Right is concerned about (because, since we don't actually talk to folks on the right, we have no idea what they're concerned about, we just attribute to them all kinds of negative crap), but the things we hate about each other. Again, holy shit. Anyway, I'm not sure what to make of it, but I thought I'd throw it out there for discussion. *For the sake of this entry, I should note that I didn't interrogate them to discern whether they were talking about all liberal men or just that pernicious subset of academic liberal men. **Thus lending credence to my theory that we're actually just talking about academic liberal men. ***That may be just me.

36 Comments:

Blogger Kleinheider said...

Well, deep down y'all already know why this is. Me articulating the reasoning is only going to drive you deeper into denial so I'll just be quiet :)

11/21/2005 09:51:00 AM  
Blogger Exador said...

While non-liberal men retain the capacity to express all the positive attributes of liberalism: compassion, sensitivity, caring, liberal men are unable to do the same; be manly. The fact is that you straight gals generally insist on a certain level of old-fashioned, hairy-chested manliness.

Please, all you liberals guys that are about to challenge me to fight; save it, even though it'd be cute.

11/21/2005 10:08:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

From Fred On Everything:

Liberalism is a feminine creed, embodying the kindness, short horizons, modest familiarity with reason, and placidity of the sex. It wants to buy people nice things without reflecting on how to pay for them. It believes in goodness but doesn’t often get much further, being benevolent while falling short of beneficence. As good mothers will, it tries to protect everyone from everything.

This is why the Democratic Party unrelentingly promotes security. Children must wear helmets while riding bicycles, swimming pools must not have deep ends, canoeists must wear life preservers, we must outlaw guns, and smoking, and drinking while driving, and we should all wear sunscreen so as to avoid melanoma. We must worry about safety until there is nothing left in life but its preservation.

With the seldom recognized totalitarianism of the female, liberals seek to impose happiness, whether desired or not, by therapy and mood-altering drugs, whether desired or not. People must be happy, must be safe, must be forcibly socialized to a life of orderly boring routine whether they want it or not. The herd will provide for all; the price is that all must yield to the herd. Thus the liberal aversion to any form of self-defense, whether conducted with a gun or a baseball bat. Self-defense is distressingly individual.

11/21/2005 10:13:00 AM  
Blogger Aunt B said...

Are you drunk? Seriously.

"Kindness, short horizons, modest familiarity with reason, and placidity?" You'd better hope that's true, running around spouting shit like that. Some day you're going to meet a girl like me who has a car and she'll run your ass down. When I hear about it days later, I will cheer.

11/21/2005 10:22:00 AM  
Blogger Kat Coble said...

I've been in politics in one form or another since I was 8, when I stuffed envelopes in Dan Quayle's Ft. Wayne, Indiana office.

I've met people of all political affiliations. I know well and count as friends Communists, Neo-Nazis, Greens, Democrats, Republicans and of course Libertarians.

From my personal experience, those that self-identify as Liberal are the least tolerant and most judgmental. Yes, I realize that statement is judgmental, and I'm sorry.

For about 15 minutes in my late teens I called myself a Liberal, because I really wanted to believe that someone out there should be taking care of the downtrodden of this earth. As long as that someone was going to pay for it and not expect me to pony up. Because at 19 I didn't have any money and wanted someone to give me some. That was the year I went to Central District Mock UN as the Faux Israeli Rep on the Security Council. (Long story that only die-hard PoliSci majors would understand)

The other "Liberals" at that event nailed me to the wall with a special cruelty for my pro-Israel views. Yes, I'm pro-Israel in real life, but that probably shouldn't have mattered since I was there to play the role of an Israeli and play it well. It's the friggin' mock U.N.

Anyway, I can't remember the time a "Liberal" person , outside of Sharon Cobb, approached me with anything but wariness when they were aware of my political position.

As to why Liberal Women are giving up on Liberal Men I have no idea. I imagine it has something to do with them all being angry all the time, and the fact that most Liberal Men I've met in the past 5 years have either been gay or had no visible means of self-support.

11/21/2005 11:23:00 AM  
Blogger Kleinheider said...

Jeez, Sacrastro, you can't drop Fred Reed on Young B. She ain't ready for all that. Baby steps, man.

11/21/2005 11:24:00 AM  
Blogger Kat Coble said...

She'll be ready for freddie when she is, as I have predicted, a conservative by the time she's 40.

11/21/2005 11:28:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Girls like you don't have cars. Or rather they do, but are too kind and placid to repo their car from whomever is "borrowing" it for fear of being called judgemental.

11/21/2005 11:30:00 AM  
Blogger Exador said...

I think it's clear that Katherine is an anomaly in the estrogen-rich voting block. Sadly, most of the sisters have whacky ideas like being Communists-in-favor-of-smaller-government (B).

One needs look no farther than the direct relationship between womens' sufferage and the exponential growth of the Nanny State. Yes that's right, I'll say it.

You damn broads are responsible for all the world's problems, except war.

I submit that it would be in everyone's best interest if we rescind women's sufferage.

Who's with me?

11/21/2005 11:50:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Me and the boys from the Man Show, that's who's with ya!

End the Sufferage of Women!


The password is xexar.

11/21/2005 11:54:00 AM  
Blogger Aunt B said...

Fuck me. If I had as much power as y'all seem to think I do, with my ability to impose totalitarianism and the nanny state through the sheer power of my placid kindness and voting rights, I'm totally missing out.

If placid kindness and sufferage can bring the whole country to its knees, think of what I should be doing right now, if only I knew how to exercise this immense power--watching Sarcastro and the Boy Scout wash my car while the Butcher walks the dog and I'm sitting on the couch listening to David Banner go on about about the joys of female masturbation while using Kleinheider as my footstool.

Hmm. That's a fantasy for later, that's for sure.

11/21/2005 12:41:00 PM  
Blogger Kat Coble said...

Kleinheider DID have some good DIY masturbation tips the other day. I guess.

11/21/2005 12:51:00 PM  
Blogger S-townMike said...

I need to beg a break from the "inability to refrain from fucking their students" part. When I was in grad school it was common knowledge that there were more gay and lesbian faculty fucking students than straight faculty fucking students. In fact, the growing emphasis on sexual harassment seemed to be scaring straight academic straight. It was almost like gays and lesbians around me didn't care since they were already living in some kind of liminal, risky space to begin with.

I cry foul on that reasoning and I want to charge a double-standardized appeal to stereotypes of straight liberal academics.

11/21/2005 01:05:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

My own observation is that liberals seem to be a lot more judgemental and patronizing than conservatives. Though there are notable exceptions on both sides.

Does this mean I should be hitting on the liberal women then? This bears looking into.

W

11/21/2005 01:29:00 PM  
Blogger Kleinheider said...

while using Kleinheider as my footstool.

Hmm. That's a fantasy for later, that's for sure.


Oh, come on, Young B. Don't lie to the good people of Pantsville. First of all, you know I'd insist on being called an ottoman. And, I think we all know, the couch would not be your fantasy choice of seating in such a scenario.

11/21/2005 01:58:00 PM  
Blogger Lee said...

Fascinating post. Of the three serious girlfriends I've had, two have been to the left of me. The first's parents even had a photo print of Robert Maplethorpe in their house. (Of a flower, nothing dirty, it was actually a beautiful print, but I digress).

I'll except those who might be moderate, and talk about those who, on a scale of 1-10, conservative to liberal, are 8-10. In which case I'll point to a bumper sticker I see often:

If you're not angry, you're not paying attention.

Who wants to spend their time with someone constantly angry? If that person is angry at the issues, then they are more likely angry at people who in good faith have different opinions on the issues.

There's some truth in that liberals (those in my artificial 8-10) are tolerant of everybody except conservatives. Which makes them intolerant of the 51% of the people who thought Bush was a better choice than Kerry.

11/21/2005 02:02:00 PM  
Blogger Rex L. Camino said...

exador said:

The fact is that you straight gals generally insist on a certain level of old-fashioned, hairy-chested manliness.

I just want to point out that if Ed Asner and Robin Williams have taught us anything, it is that men can be both liberal and ravaged with body hair.

11/21/2005 02:16:00 PM  
Blogger Kat Coble said...

If you're not angry, you're not paying attention.

Who wants to spend their time with someone constantly angry? If that person is angry at the issues, then they are more likely angry at people who in good faith have different opinions on the issues.


Excellent summation. That kind of pretty much sums up my feelings and experience on the matter.

11/21/2005 02:21:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

She'll be ready for freddie when she is, as I have predicted, a conservative by the time she's 40.

How incredibly patronizing.

I, for one, predict she'll become a libertarian lesbian who wears fur, drills for oil in Antarctica and owns a gun.

11/21/2005 03:03:00 PM  
Blogger Kat Coble said...

How incredibly patronizing.

Glad to oblige.

Nice to see you're not doing anything to rid my impression of liberals being angry all the time.

11/21/2005 04:03:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Not that I care to debunk your baseless stereotypes, but baby, I ain't angry. I'm all kinds of things, but angry ain't one of them.

Not over a patronizing blog comment, anyway.

11/21/2005 04:17:00 PM  
Blogger Kat Coble said...

What exactly made it so patronizing?

11/21/2005 04:19:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

A) You claim to know better than she does.

B) You presume it is just a matter of time before she changes to become like you.

C) You speak about her, not to her, on her own blog.

11/21/2005 04:39:00 PM  
Blogger Lee said...

I sense some anger

11/21/2005 04:50:00 PM  
Blogger Kat Coble said...

A) You claim to know better than she does.

B) You presume it is just a matter of time before she changes to become like you.

C) You speak about her, not to her, on her own blog


All of that could be true...or, option "D"

I'm referencing an inside joke between her, Sarcastro and me from several weeks ago. Which, I'm assuming since they're both intelligent and able-bodied folk, that they both get, even though it didn't happen yesterday.

11/21/2005 05:07:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Awww, no fair. I wanted to see a big cat fight.

11/21/2005 05:20:00 PM  
Blogger Kat Coble said...

This particular big Kat doesn't feel much like fighting these days.

11/21/2005 05:28:00 PM  
Blogger Exador said...

"I'm sitting on the couch listening to David Banner go on about the joys of female masturbation while using Kleinheider as my footstool."

Would you be listening or masturbating while having your feet on Kleinheider?

Just wondering. It's YOUR fantasy.

11/21/2005 05:42:00 PM  
Blogger Aunt B said...

I imagine that depends on whether you and Sarcastro are clothed...

11/21/2005 06:00:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

These seem contextually relevant somehow:

I Fucked Ann Coulter in the Ass Hard

and

Back in Ann Coulter's Ass-Saddle Again

11/21/2005 10:16:00 PM  
Blogger Sharon Cobb said...

"Does this mean I should be hitting on the liberal women then? This bears looking into.
W "

How old are you? I'm looking and liberal.

Aunt B. Fritz and I were involved with our first Republicans at the same time. Mine dumped me in an instant message. (the "L" is still on my forehead) As for Fritz, you'll have to ask him why his republican dumped him. More in a sec...

Katherine, thank you for the compliment. So we disagree on several issues? So what? I think it's nicer to find what we agree on and enjoy that. (Inserting Jewish guilt--so when are you going to call?) Speaking of, I would have loved to have seen you as an Israeli! Oy!

Aunt B. --Try a Republican at least once. Somehow, I get the impression you just might be into wild sex, and it appears that the Republican guys (I did a survey of my friends after mine) are much more wild and kinkier than liberal men. Will tell you more over coffee.

Oh--Katherine, you need to tell me how it went with Womack.

11/22/2005 03:41:00 AM  
Blogger Exador said...

Let's see....

Not manly, AND not into wild, kinky sex.

I think we've found the answer to B's original question.

11/22/2005 07:46:00 AM  
Blogger Aunt B said...

Sharon, what I lack in talent, I make up for in willingness to try just about anything. It's just my way of distracting them from my inherent awkward clumsiness.

11/22/2005 08:12:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sharon, I'm in my early 30's. Never dumped anyone by IM. But Aunt B probably doomed to never date again by calling me 'nice'.

W

11/22/2005 08:52:00 AM  
Blogger Sharon Cobb said...

W...
Do I know you?

11/23/2005 02:56:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

No Sharon, I don't think you do. I don't get around much in blogger circles. Especially not since B ruined my reputation by calling me conservative.

W

11/23/2005 09:53:00 AM  

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