Comments on: The Contumelys

By: Jason G. Williscroft

Jason G. Williscroft — Sat, 06 Nov 2004 23:51:27 +0000

Sounds like “disdain” to me. I’m reminded of an old Navy toast (usually reserved until near the end of the evening): May the bleeding piles assault you And corns adorn your feet; May crabs as big as cockroaches Crawl ‘round your balls and eat; And when you’re old and feeble And your mind’s a total wreck, May you fall right through your asshole And break your fucking neck. Cheers! :)

By: Douglas Anthony Cooper

Douglas Anthony Cooper — Sat, 06 Nov 2004 23:43:58 +0000

Okay… I’m placing my head on the chopping block. I’ve done what everyone should do during the Black Night of the Soul—launched a blog. http://www.dysblog.blogspot.com Among other things, I’ve posted a chart comparing the average IQ of states voting Kerry vs. states voting Bush. (If you haven’t yet seen this, it’s pretty amusing.) Judge away. (Note that I’ve put up links to Smart Conservatives—I’m not entirely blinded by ideology.)

By: Yusuf Smith

Yusuf Smith — Sat, 06 Nov 2004 15:53:44 +0000

I’ve had similar problems with comments not showing up on my MT (3.1) blog. In my case you just have to press reload, and it’ll show up, and I’ve inserted a message into the comments template telling people this.

By: aj

aj — Sat, 06 Nov 2004 10:14:11 +0000

I don’t mean that virulent elitism has been lost – but I don’t think it’s expressed as openly in public as it was in the late 19th century – and certainly not with the same eloquence.

By: s_bethy

s_bethy — Sat, 06 Nov 2004 04:44:00 +0000

aj- If only that were ‘lost’ elitism. Sounds more like political consulting to me.

By: aj

aj — Sat, 06 Nov 2004 04:13:31 +0000

My nomination is not partisan, and not a blog post, but for sheer elitist contempt, it’s hard to match these gems from the 19th century: “The highest man may comprehend the lowest, but the lowest can no more comprehend the highest than if he belonged to another order of beings, as for some purposes he practically does. A single human mind may engender thoughts which the combined efforts of millions of lower intelligences cannot conceive. This is not the faith of Demos. In his vague way, he fancies that aggregated ignorance and weakness will bear the fruits of wisdom. He begins to think that science, thought, and study, are old-time illusions; that everybody has a right to form his own opinion as to whether the world is round or flat, and that the votes of the majority ought to settle the question.” Or maybe this: “A New England village of the olden time—that is to say, of some forty years ago—would have been safely and well governed by the votes of every man in it; but, now that the village has grown into a populous city, with its factories and workshops, its acres of tenement-houses, and thousands and ten thousands of restless workmen, foreigners for the most part, to whom liberty means license and politics means plunder, to whom the public good is nothing and their own most trivial interests everything, who love the country for what they can get out of it, and whose ears are open to the promptings of every rascally agitator, the case is completely changed, and universal suffrage becomes a questionable blessing.” Or maybe this: “When a man has not sense to comprehend the questions at issue, know a bad candidate from a good one, or see his own true interests—when he cares not a farthing for the general good, and will sell his vote for a dollar—when, by a native instinct, he throws up his cap at the claptrap declamation of some lying knave, and turns with indifference or dislike from the voice of honesty and reason—then his vote becomes a public pest. Somebody uses him, and profits by him. Probably it is a demagogue, possibly a priest, or possibly both. In any case, it is folly to call him a free agent. His inalienable right may perhaps be valuable to him for the bribe he gets out of it; but it makes him a nuisance and a danger to the state. It causes pulpit, platform, and press, to condone his vices, and debanch the moral sense of the people by discovering objects of sympathy in vagabonds, thieves, and ruffians. It gives power to the communistic attack on property, and makes it difficult to deal with outbreaks of brutal violence against which even humanity itself demands measures of the most stern and exemplary repression.” Francis Parkman, “The Failure of Universal Suffrage” (1878) Sorry for the length of this comment, but you really need to see old-style elitism in detail to get an idea of the world we have “lost.” The left and right have tried hard this week, but all they’ve proven is that they just don’t make contumely like they used to. Another sign of the impoverishment of our politcal discourse?

By: s_bethy

s_bethy — Sat, 06 Nov 2004 04:00:28 +0000

Okay, here’s a snide one from the left. I guess my politics are showing. ‘bink’, over at Daily Kos says:

The Republican Party has got to give up its obsession with sex. Oval office blow-jobs. Marital infidelity. Gay sex. ESPECIALLY gay sex. The Republican Party is the party that brought gay sex into the American living room and they want it to stay there.

By: Kathryn Cramer

Kathryn Cramer — Sat, 06 Nov 2004 03:05:03 +0000

I nominate whoever come up with the blue states/red states IQ graph.

By: s_bethy

s_bethy — Sat, 06 Nov 2004 01:40:03 +0000

I believe this one falls short in the 'clever and wise' department, but it's way long on contempt. Adam Yoshida says...

...The Democrats and their allies staked everything on the defeat of this President. All of the resources they had accumulated over a generation of struggle were thrown into this battle: and they have failed. Despite all of their tricks, despite all of their lies, the people have rejected them. They mean nothing. They are worth nothing. There’s no point in trying to reach out to them because they won’t be reached out to. We’ve got their teeth clutching the sidewalk and out boot above their head. Now’s the time to curb-stomp the bastards.

By: John

John — Sat, 06 Nov 2004 00:54:20 +0000

What we do do, on the other hand, is sneer. Most contemptuously. Nyeh-heh-heh-heh. We’re like Elves! I think the issue I have with conservatives whining about liberals whining about them is that sure, they don’t like being condescended to, but when you peel away the layers of their dislike (rather like taking apart an onion), the fact is that they’re already being very openly condescending to the liberals, and they really do think that the rest of the country should sign onto their moral beliefs, and not criticize those beliefs, because of course, those beliefs are right. I don’t know about the liberal ideal, but my ideal is that everybody is free to believe what they want and worship how they want, the government is ran by logic and reason (Where are you now, Thomas Jefferson?), and nobody’s religion gets forced on anyone else. A state of neutrality if you will. Conservatives tell me I’m trying to force my ideal on them. Well, that’s not really possible, since my ideal is based pretty much off having their ideal off my back. If somebody is sitting on top of you, and you push them off and rise to your feet, you haven’t imposed on them, you’ve regained a state of neutrality. That’s the difference between legalized gay marriage and forcing churches to perform gay marriages, it’s the difference between legalizing abortion and having forced abortions, and it’s the difference between having the prayers of one sole religion in school and having a class that teaches about all world religions equally. Do I make any kind of sense with this at all? People say the Democrats need to reach out to Middle America, but when I talk to some of the people from Middle America, they tell me Lincoln was a criminal, the U.S. favors those “d*mned uppity n*ggers” too much, and we need to go kill all the Muslims. Ladies and Gentlemen, Middle America scares the fucking hell out of me.

By: mn

mn — Fri, 05 Nov 2004 23:32:16 +0000

David Rees and Adam Felbers and the Poor Man rule. This, too, although not contempt-filled: sorryeverybody.com

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 05 Nov 2004 23:21:05 +0000

I like Bainbridge most of the time. He’s a smart guy and his textbook is a good one. But it is funny to hear him going on about those darn elitist, isn’t it? He is constantly posting about his fast cars- BMW’s and Porsches and the like. He has a blog specially devoted to fine wine, for god’s sake. He talks w/o a hint of of self-consiciousness about how important it is to drink each type of wine in the appropriate glass. He teaches law at UCLA. He doesn’t like kids. Yes, he has much, much in common with middle america. So much more than, say, Dennis Kucinich.

By: Uncle Kvetch

Uncle Kvetch — Fri, 05 Nov 2004 22:59:09 +0000

I have contempt for my fellow liberals who claim to not be morally judging other people when they are, in fact, morally judging other people. Keith, liberals can’t morally judge other people, since, by definition, liberals have no morals. Or didn’t you get the memo? What we do do, on the other hand, is sneer. Most contemptuously. Nyeh-heh-heh-heh.

By: Uncle Kvetch

Uncle Kvetch — Fri, 05 Nov 2004 22:57:29 +0000

I have contempt for my fellow liberals who claim to not be morally judging other people when they are, in fact, morally judging other people. Keith, liberals can’t morally judge other people (even when they sound like they are), since by definition they have no morals. Didn’t you get the memo?

By: Keith M Ellis

Keith M Ellis — Fri, 05 Nov 2004 22:50:49 +0000

I have contempt for my fellow liberals who claim to not be morally judging other people when they are, in fact, morally judging other people. Oh, and then morally condemning other people for morally judging other people. That kinda rankles, too. And I’m a liberal! I suspect this hypocrisy annoys the conservatives even more. Not that they really have a leg to stand on, so to speak, the bastards.