Sunday, July 20

Sampling reactions to Netroots Nation



Driftglass (deity) has posted an update to the "seven obscene things you can't say on television" and each one of them, in my opinion, should be stitched to a sampler and mailed to Wolf Blitzer's mother.

But the big news is that some Netroots Nationalists (ooh do I have to pull a Skippy and remind everyone forever that yes, I coined that phrase)...

...because I like it....

Are pulling back on the obscenities? Because as The New York Fucking Times quotes one (emphasis mine):

Digby Parton, who writes on Hullabaloo.com, said she initially thought of her blog as an ephemeral form of conversation among friends and used vulgarities freely. But now she is read by a substantially wider circle and has cleaned up her language.

“I don’t use the same amount of profanity,” she said. “We’re taken much more seriously as a political force,” and she has a stronger sense that her words are “out there for posterity.”
Now I bow to the great writing of Digby as much as any of us do, she's a godmother to so many and far be it from a nobody like myself to...

Posterity? Fuck that, Digby.

What is posterity? The dry spot you wiggle toward after sleeping with the enemy? Sheeit.

I don't care if you blog the word "fuck" or not. Those kind of choices are made by writers all the time, and the right choice is what works for what you're writing.

But I do care, very much, where the blogs go and what they represent. There are two political parties in this country, folks: "inside the Beltway" and "outside the Beltway."

I am a proud outside the beltway rabblerouser.

Chris Mathews? Wolf Blitzer? Markos? To which party do they belong these days?

Make your fucking choice and if your motivation is how you so want to be "taken seriously as a political force" by Party Number One?

Count.
Me.
Out.

Because I know what "taken seriously as a political force" means.

It means certain bloggers of a certain Technorati profile were part of a four minute daily conference call with Terry fucking McCauliffe two months ago.

I am not trying to be superior here, it's just not where you will ever find me. Not because I'd have to clean up my act (I mean, Terry's DTs wouldn't allow him to remember me fucking him let alone saying "fuck" on the phone), but because I refuse to become part of the power structure that continues to fuck this country.

And when we all wake up to a Democratic Congress and a Democratic White House and it turns out that all of them have decided that four or five more years in Iraq is the least we can do, and that it would be "counterproductive" to prosecute the Bush Administration war criminals who, let's face it, suffered enough on Election Day 2008, poor things, onward and upward, "Move On" indeed...

...because while right now it's our turn to "govern" it will someday be our turn to go back to the fermentation of our safe, lucrative, respectable DC think tank. If our friends from across the aisle need help with packing or cab fare we're only too happy to reciprocate. The door will revolve again, friends, bon voyage...

I don't want to be the one who has to analyze all o' dat without the word "fuck" by my side. For posterity.

P.S. Okay I just hadda make another sampler:

23 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:43 PM

    Oh, for fuck's sake! I've been guest blogging over at Feministe, and some of their whiny-ass commenters have been complaining about colorful language.

    You know what's motherfucking obscene? The actual bad shit that goes on in the world every fucking day! Not fucking words that fucking bloggers use. Jesus Fucking Christ On A Cracker!!!

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  2. Where the fuck did that come from?

    Going all Big Lebowski Dude on our asses. Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

    Again!

    Amazing what comes out when they slice into a vein.

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  3. I try to minimize profanity on my blog except when it's used to underscore a point, which I think is totally acceptable and in good form.

    Perhaps this is because in my youth I, like so many, overused profanity as a means of seeming shocking and being generally rebellious.

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  4. Anonymous8:37 PM

    I was reading a summary of comments from Netroots Nation, and I had two reactions:

    1. I'm glad I did not go.
    2. The A-list is selling out for respectability.

    As for language usage, I hardly swear in real life, and so that follows me to my blog. And on the rare post where I do swear, well, it is more notable for it.

    Regards,

    Tengrain

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  5. the only time i clean up my act is for my inlaws and mom. fuck everyone else! if i had to sell my soul for a technorati rating or invite to a convention- well, frankly i guess i would be daily kos. oops- did i say that out loud? it isn't about respectability or being recognized- i left the democratic party because i see little progressive about it. the leaders pander to special interests every bit as much as the republicans and they don't make the news as much with their sexual trysts because they don't tie their lot behind the holier than thou wagon. the two party system is horribly broken and we need to dismantle it and start over. ain't going to fucking do that from the inside. but that's just my humble opinion.

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  6. I fall into the Tengrain camp ... figures ... and named my blog after my most often used word "yikes!"

    Although lately I have taken to using "fuck" a lot ... and I'm inside the beltway ... YIKES!


    BAC

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  7. Anonymous11:23 PM

    How dare you compare Joe Lieberman to weasels. Some of my best friends are weasels :)

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  8. i love this post! "right on" as we old ones used to say! ; )

    i will use fuck and phooey in the same paragraph, sometimes the same sentence.
    language is for communication.

    depends on what's needed at the time.

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  9. Anonymous8:08 AM

    You forgot a word in your quote. Shouldn't it read, "Joe Lieberman was and is a lying, warmongering, FUCKweasel"?

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  10. Anonymous8:45 AM

    "I was reading a summary of comments from Netroots Nation, and I had two reactions:

    1. I'm glad I did not go.
    2. The A-list is selling out for respectability."

    Profanity doesn't work for me, but it certainly shouldn't be an issue for these folks. I just think they're selling out, period.

    It's like as soon as you hear that edgy underground song being used to sell cars or beer. You just know the edge has gone.

    And I think that part of your post is unfair to weasels.

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  11. Anonymous10:57 AM

    The problems we face in our country have always been accessible to reasoned, thoughtful critique. The folks that ought to be doing that (MSM, elected officials, etc.)have instead become apologists and water carriers. When those same people are so comfortable that they cannot gin up the rage to throw down on those who actually benefit from the pain those problems cause millions, it becomes necessary for others to do it. If the language that comes is tinged with rage, it is only because the ones who should be calling it like it is are calling it like it isn't. It's maddening. Why do you think America loved Mark Twain and Will Rogers?

    It seems a shame how comfort becomes the greatest seducer of those with firebrands.

    [The dry spot reference cracked me up!]

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  12. I have never been a believer in the use of obscenity just for the sake of obscenity. OTOH, when people start changing what was for them their natural way of expressing themselves, then their self-censorship has started them slide down the slippery slope of selling out. If you become afraid to tell people what you actually think and feel, then what's the point of saying anything at all?

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  13. I don't care if it's been used: Fuckin'-A!

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  14. Anonymous12:09 PM

    Go Cheney yourself!

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  15. Anonymous7:59 PM

    Gee wilickers, I'm feeling a lot of gosh-darn pressure to use the "F" words here, and all I really want to say, darnit, is fine post, Blue Gal; your integrity and humor has made me a fan of this blog. And I so much enjoy seeing the F word here, too. It's hardly ever gratuitous, and is a wonderful condiment on what you're dishin' out each day.
    Whew! I made it!

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  16. Anonymous10:21 PM

    fall into the Tengrain camp ... figures ... and named my blog after my most often used word "yikes!"

    Although lately I have taken to using "fuck" a lot ... and I'm inside the beltway ... YIKES!


    BAC


    Awwwww, you make me weepy, BAC. Much love your way. *smack*

    Regards,

    Tengrain

    ReplyDelete
  17. Ew, its so irresponsible to use "bad" language in one's blog.

    I blush with shame everytime an obscenity slips into one of my blogs. But then, I ask myself, "What has responsibe behavior done for our country lately?" Then I say, "Fuck it! Go for the sleaze."

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  18. Dude, Where's My Sugarcoating?

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  19. Anonymous8:54 AM

    Fuck yeah!

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  20. I don't trust a man (or woman) that doesn't swear...you can always bet they have something to hide.

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  21. A good righteous post, and I enjoyed all the comments. For me, losing my beloved profanities would be like a painter running out of blue.

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  22. I've always felt profanity is mostly an aesthetic issue, certainly not a moral one.

    Digby still swears. And for just one example, I did write a post for another site where I didn't swear, just because that was the house style. I also wouldn't swear if I were a guest on PBS' NewsHour (not that that's gonna happen!) for the same reasons. But on my blog, sure, if it feels appropriate. Digby, too, isn't preaching to other people and clutching pearls, as some other bloggers do. A few months back I heard an older blogger complaining about those damn blogging kids today and their potty-mouths… Listen, it's not as if the reason George Bush makes such horrible decisions is because people haven't pointed things out to him politely enough. It's been tried. And it's not as if Dick Cheney and most right-wingers are actiing, or arguing, in good faith. (Conservative bloggers often try to latch onto profanity or a personal attack as if it invalidates the substance of an argument, but ad hominem doesn't work like that. Also, it's possible to show why someone is a liar.)

    Drifty's post is fantastic. As I posted over there, HTML Mencken over at Sadly, No recently repeated his distinction between "civility" and "decency."

    Or as I normally put it, you know what's worse than calling someone a fucking fascist? Being a fucking fascist! You know what's worse than saying the Bushies are evil scumbags torturing people? The fact that they've been torturing people. I really could give a shit if anyone too stupid, craven, or morally bankrupt to condemn obscene acts objects to some profanity. I'm rather sick of the bourgeois authoritarians, obsessed with decorum, wielding proprietary as a weapon, content to allow unnecessary suffering – just don't let it spoil the view from the luncheon terrace. But you've said much the same thing many a time, BG. Fuckin' ay, that is some righteous muthafuckin' shit you've been laying on the Villagers, and they could use it, from Joe "Pompous Warmonger" Lieberman to Richard fucking Cohen and his Hello Kitty weltanschauung.

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