The American Spectator

Reader Mail

p> JUDGING JUDGE br> Re: Mark Gauvreau Judge's Right-Wingtips Revisited : /p> p>When Bill Walsh coached the San Francisco 49ers to four Super Bowl championships and set up their fifth, he had a knack for cutting or trading even popular players before their diminishing skills hurt the team. I believe Walsh would suggest it's time to hand Mark Gauvreau Judge his walking papers. His usefulness to our team is in doubt. br> -- Earl Wright br> Clovis, California /p>

I sincerely think that Mark Judge needs to write, not in "Another Perspective," but "Another Venue." I value your website, and regret to see you give this guy, not one, but two chances to formulate what ends up being nothing more than an immature response to Gretchen Wilson's "Redneck Woman." It's as if he was provoked by the in-your-face lyrics of the song, and decided that he would play a little tit-for-tat and do his own provoking with an in-your-face "metrocon" diatribe. The only problem is that both of his articles are so transparently abrasive, they reek of "shock-value" type entertainment pieces, something far below what I've come to expect from your website. Perhaps they might be more fitting on some blog somewhere.

I don't think you would want to give me enough space to rebut everything Mr. Judge wrote, nor would I want to. Suffice it to say though, that before he starts pontificating (perhaps a pun), he should pay a little more attention to the subject matter on which he's writing (conservative political viewpoint); know a little more about the people he ridicules (anyone who's not a "metrocon," i.e. us Southern uncultured, uneducated white-trash); and, by all means, steer completely clear of drawing parallels between cultural refinement and righteousness ("embrace [cultural refinements] and thus embrace God's truth," give me a break).

Instead of confusing the context and language of Old Testament prophecies, I would suggest that Mr. Judge spend some time reading the New Testament. He would see Jesus' humility (which is spoken of) instead of conjuring up Jesus' physical beauty (which is never spoken of). If he studied a little bit, he might find that the Sadducees were culturally refined, and loved it so much, they saw Jesus as a threat to their lifestyle. Maybe he could remind us of what these culturally refined Sadducees did with Jesus. As he's reading the New Testament, he might also even run across an episode where Jesus spoke very condemningly of a Pharisee who made himself out to be so much better than others (substitute redneck for tax collector). As for the Greeks Mr. Judge so highly extols, I think he'll find Paul mentioning their philosophy and wisdom in contradistinction to the saving message of the Gospel.

Mr. Judge, although you so condescendingly refer to it as "crude behavior," "as dumb, tacky, and second-rate," there is absolutely nothing wrong with the "common man" (or woman) being content with what they have and who they are. What you refer to as "defiance against the staid, snobby, and civilized" is really nothing more than these common people celebrating the fact that they don't have to be enslaved to some arbitrary cultural standards, no matter how logically and eloquently you might set them. They're celebrating the fact that their lives are worthwhile just the way they are. Now if you wanted to speak about how the lyrics of "Redneck Woman" suggest abusing alcohol (which you don't), or about the how the lyrics might be suggesting a wild lifestyle (which you don't, but is debatable), or if you wanted to suggest sinfulness in connecting "hell" with "yeah" (which again, you don't) you should feel free to draw upon your twenty years of Catholic school, and whatever righteous indignation you might feel, an lead a tirade against something that Jesus would also condemn. But to somehow condemn the "common man" for being content to be a common man and not gaining some cultural refinements, that's not Christian, that's not conservative, and as your mentor tried to tell you, that's not even nice. Did the fishermen and other common men who became Jesus' disciple turn out to be rich artists, sculptures, or composers? Mr. Judge, I think you have a lot of things quite mixed up. But take heart, Jesus died for you, too.

topics:
Religion, Islam, Books, Movies, Law, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Energy, Oil, Unions