how gawker is saving clio's sanity, episode 2

[jlh]

A Report Sure to Spark a National Conversation on Race in which our friends at wonkette take down the AP for the crappy article they wrote on their crappy push-poll about how up to a quarter of all Democrats won't vote for Obama because he's black, or violent, or lazy or something. It's fucking brilliant.

Now for how the New York Times is very much not keeping Clio sane:

Listen to me, Aaron Sorkin, because I had to listen to your fucking personal issues for 22 episodes of Studio 60: There is no right time for condescension! You really think that condescension is the appropriate response to American anti-intellectualism? Do you remember what happened to Obama's numbers when he condescended to Hillary? Do none of you people remember that the condescension of the left is why we fucking LOST IN 2004? Jesus Christ on a pogo stick what is wrong with you people? Do you really think that you can spend all your time making fun of the "flyover" states and then expect them to vote your ass into office in November?

By the way, that whole riff on how you don't know what white women want? Not actually funny, not because of your notorious women issues (may you never write another female character not played by Alison Janney because, seriously) but mostly because it makes it sound like they all want the same thing. (I say they because I'm not actually white, so I can't say we. But not all black women want to be Michelle Obama, either.) Never mind that it makes a joke about these two guys standing there going, yeah, I don't get women. Yeah, that's just the way to get those weirdo PUMA chicks back, or to make the disappointed Hillary people feel better.

Awesome job, Aaron. By selfishly spewing out all of your frustration you've just put everything that needs to be overcome and most of what's currently wrong with the left on display, and put Obama in a bad light because you know, of course he doesn't know what to do, but Bartlett knows, because in your shows there is always a sage-but-flawed white man who knows what everyone else is supposed to be doing. If I were Karl Rove, I would have found that piece to be hilarious too, but for a completely different reason.

Maybe, just maybe, instead of being offended that the US is full of anti-intellectuals (and hello, it's always been that way; even Jefferson played that game) we should be trying to find a way to say that no, just because I'm intelligent does not mean that I agree with your 7th grade English teacher who told you that you were too stupid to go to college so you might as well get into that vocational-technical school, or that I'm that slick talking fellow who told you to refinance your house so you could send your kid to state school. Maybe if we thought about people's interactions with others who condescend to them, we could get closer to understanding why they worry about folks who are smarter than they are, and we won't get millions of people voting for another George Bush.

So sit down and think for a good long time on this: do you want to win, or would you rather lose because it means that you're too smart for the room? Because, dear American left, I'm really beginning to wonder.

Comments

[tropes.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD THANK YOU.

My flist has been exploding with glee over that fucking thing and I just don't get why anyone would think Aaron Sorkin is anything but a total fucktard!!!!

[jlh.livejournal.com]

He is so full of himself it's irritating. But I'm so glad you commented, because I figured I'd be out here on my own with this one. I read it and I could see why people were pleased (with themselves) but I couldn't believe that with everything that was going on they really needed to hear that message.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I was reading that on my flist and thinking...why is my reaction that I wanted Obama to tell him a thing or three?

The most telling line is how Bartlet only had to be president of people who watch the West Wing. That's a country where everything works the way it works inside Workin's head. And boy does he get people seriously wrong.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

why is my reaction that I wanted Obama to tell him a thing or three?

Totally! I wanted Obama to say, sir with all due respect, we've moved on, kthx. The entire conceit was irritating. And Sorkin's way of viewing things has always been so facile, so much about right and wrong. Very little grey in a Sorkin universe, which I suppose is what people like about it, but what I find frustrating and tiresome and most importantly, tells me nothing about my life.

[mahoni.livejournal.com]

do you want to win, or would you rather lose because it means that you're too smart for the room? Because, dear American left, I'm really beginning to wonder.

I wonder this too, and it both freaks me out (because I don't want McCain to win) and pisses me off (because, COME ON, people. Go buy a ladder and get over yourselves).

[jlh.livejournal.com]

And it's very geeky, that you'd rather lose because it proves that you were so right that no one can see appreciate right you were. They'd rather be Van Gogh than Picasso, and that's fine for art or music or whatever, but jesus, not for politics! I'm hoping that really this is about the dumbass leftist bloggers who've been in a panicky free fall since the Palin announcement, because Obama himself has managed to keep his eyes on the prize, and not being dragged into trifling stupidity won him the nomination in the first place.

[misscake]

I'd definitely rather win. And I'd rather win with grace and honor than condescension, if that's possible.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

God, I hope it is.

[lillijulianne.livejournal.com]

the what do women want part wasn't funny, though the bit about "if you had a black daughter who" was priceless.

eh, honestly, and you're going to get mad at me, but if you read the new york times and you're not voting for obama, it's because you have a whole fucking lot of money, and your vote was never in contention. i am surrounded at all times by people who are not voting for obama, and who feel the left condescends to them for believing in god and being patriotic and not being gay and not reading the times, because they don't, ever, and what was that line i once read in a novel? something like "he was not only a sitting duck, but a duck who insisted on sitting directly in front of the gun."

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Well, just because they're not reading it doesn't mean it doesn't have an effect. I'm just sort of sick of the way the left behaves and I do think it has to change. And admittedly, I was really irritated with all the crowing on my flist over this article because it was Sorkin at his most self indulgent. Well, most since Studio 60.

Also, the if you had a black daughter bit isn't his joke; people have been saying that for two weeks now.

Why would I be angry? And who is the sitting duck, then, Obama?

[lillijulianne.livejournal.com]

the sitting ducks are them, voting for 28 years for people who have eviscerated their economy, sent their jobs overseas, killed their pensions, pocketed their money. and i suppose i'm frustrated because while it would certainly be practical for obama to lie, and on a pragmatic level i wish he would, i wonder if one CAN. and i will never stop wondering why people are ok with the doctor knowing more than they do about what's good for their kidneys or their spleen, with the guy who fixes their car knowing more than they do about the alternator and the flange valves or whatever the fuck, but they want the president of the united states to say he doesn't know any more than they do about all the things that are HIS job.