The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : A Walk In The Snark

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Our man J.Peter Freire gives the Obama infomercial a well-deserved spanking over at Culture 11. Predictably, critics in the comments section call our Managing Editor an angry idiot while simultaneously lamenting the loss of thoughtful discourse--you know, the kind where you shellack the entire conservative movement outside of yourself and your holier-than-thou blogging buddies as a bunch of knuckle-dragging ninnies so that you might get an electronic pat on the head from Andrew Sullivan and a perfumed invitation to the pseudo-intellectual circle jerk that has suddenly become the hottest ticket in town for pretty young right-wing things in D.C.--not to mention for some not-so-pretty-or-young right-wing things.

Admission is cheap enough: Mostly a willingness to hate on the squares you frequently agree with to curry favor with those cool cats who would fit you with fangs & horns if your ideas ever approached anything resembling politically feasibility. At first the approach is kind of a turn-off, but, then...Oh, the way you cut your condescending pretentiousness with knowing pop culture references! And who wouldn't want to become smarter than everyone else just by saying it is so?

Um, actually, thanks anyway. I'll stick with someone like J.P. who does the hard work of elevating and furthering principle rather than simply award himself hipster chits for shouting "Idiot!" in a crowded blogosphere.

View all comments (6) | Leave a comment

Robert Stacy McCain| 10.30.08 @ 11:32AM

Listen, if "circle jerk" is now acceptable in the blog, does that mean it is OK if I go ahead and post pictures of the Olsen Twins in their almost-naked Halloween costumes? I'm just trying to figure out where the line is, so I don't cross it by accident.

Shawn Macomber| 10.30.08 @ 12:00PM

I think you might have already accidentally crossed a line by having those pics, brother! And if I offended the Other McCain's sensibilities I probably, indeed, have crossed the blog line. We stand together at a crossroads, RSM. Not as dire as the one Thelma and Louise faced, but of possibly some import yet...

Will| 10.30.08 @ 12:39PM

Hilari0us post. But friendly debate isn't the same thing as ideological capitulation. Just something to keep in mind.

Shawn Macomber| 10.30.08 @ 1:18PM

No one said it was! My point--as someone who holds many views outside the ideological orthodoxy and has disagreements/debates all the time with some of my close friends/family/allies--was/is those who can't keep the debate friendly--who, in fact, care not to debate anything, but rather qualify every postulation with a bit about how clever, unique and smart they are--are making a lot of the noise these days about how everyone else should be behaving and debating. And, frankly, if they want to be nice, we can all be nice. If they want to be asses...well, I guess that's why I have a blog login, for whatever pittance it's worth.