Letters to the Editor
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A Common Ploy of the Unattractive Woman
Charlotte Allen attacks her own gender with specious reasoning and spurious causality in an effort to appear more attractive to men.
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True, Kaleun - but don't tell that to Family Guy fans
They tend to be veeeery sensitive when told that their show pales in comparison to South Park!
Btw - the 2-episode SP storyline on Cartman versus the Family Guy "writers" is one of the most delicious pieces of critical satire ever! It put manatees in a whole new light. =)
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South Park
Sorry, Family Guy is funnier by far. I used to love South Park but the constant preaching and ponitification got on my nerves.
The writers seem to be saying, 'everyone is stupid but us.' That may be so, but that doesn't make the show funny.
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Minding Charlotte Allen's affiliation
Has anyone noticed or care that Charlotte Allen is with the conservative Manhattan Institute's "Minding the Campus"?
This organization is supposedly "dedicated to the revival of intellectual pluralism and the best traditions of liberal education at America's universities. Look here for the most current thoughts and opinions on American academic reform."
"Reform" usually means, in the MI world, getting rid of any left, liberal or progressive tendencies in government, public policies. etc.
The Manhattan Institute is a very well-connected think tank that turns out "public policy" positions for those have a very hyper-free market agenda. It was founded by Wm. Colby, Reagan's CIA director. Its City Journal has run a relentless war against anything that smacks of the 1960s. This is the think tank from which Giuliani got his policy ideas.
In other words, Minding the Campus basically want to intellectually cleanse the campus of what it perceives to be academe's leftward tilt.
In doesn't surprise me that she would make an ad hominem attack against all women. No woman or so-called person of color enters the realm of the Manhattan Institute without attacking his or her own kind. A good example is John McWhorter, a black linguist, who has written at least 2 black bashing books, and was first out the gate dismissing Obama. He's been on Fox, and don't be surprised is she makes an appearance there.
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Hating Each Other and Themselves
I think it's the post-generational fallout from "women's lib." Its excesses have caused more damage than is admitted or realized.
It sensitized (inflammed may be the better word) the gender wars to such an extent that unstable minds like this one are unable to cope with it.
Something Robert Bly said has always stuck with me. "Men are getting softer and women are getting harder." Now it can be added: so hard that they are starting to eat not only the male spider but themselves.
I started to see it in the rejection of Hillary by the so-called literary and professional class, such as the former head of NOW and certain unnamed columnists here on Salon and the NYTIMES who demostrate a hatred of her that is not related to any political "fact" that's been unearthed. The extent of the antipathy is what caught my attention.
There is a deeper much more trenchant analysis to be found in the work of Marion Woodman and other therapists who have really nailed what the words "partiarchy" and "matriarchy" mean but I fear learning it entails more work than the partisans wish to take. They seem to find more satisfaction is hating each other and themselves.
It could be why so many have been driven to fundamentalist dogma where they don't have to think for themselves--just let your cleric do your thinking for you--and obey!
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Subtext, people, subtext.
I don't have to read more than a sentence of this to know that the article is a (not so)subliminal Hillary Pillory.
Come on, ladies AND gents, get with it.
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@Ben Sen
Nah. I don't think feminism confused Ms. Allen into hating herself. There have always been women like Ms. Allen trumpeting women's inferiority, even during the so-called first-wave of the American women's movement. I think it is a psychological response to patriarchy -- a way of separating oneself from those stupid loathesome women and getting the rewarded with some kind of quasi-respect from the guys. In Ms. Allen's case, there are practical rewards as well, such as writing and think tank gigs she would never have gotten otherwise.
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I can't stand women like her
Women who write this kind of garbage make me women like me invisible because we don't fit into the paradigm they're marketing to the gullible masses.
I don't like to ski on "women's skis." I loathe "Grey's Anatomy." Oprah sets my teeth on edge. I can program a computer and I taught myself differential geometry.
By the way, what's wrong with baking cookies for your dog? It's probably better for the environment, and your dog's health, to bake your own dog treats than to buy commercial treats made overseas from God-knows-what.
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Family Guy vs South Park
That's a more interesting subject than the incredibly stupid article that Broadsheet's TCF is talking about.
So, Family Guy is way funnier in a LOL way while South Park is a much better show thematically. Both can get tiresome occasionally when they carried away - Family Guy with the desparate Vaudville act and South Park with it's intellectual pretentions.
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There are so many guy versions of this article
I didn't think there was anything more shocking in this article than parallel "dumb guy" stories. Paraphrasing here..."They care so much about sports! And they won't ask for directions! And they think farting is really funny! What's up with that? Guys are soooo dumb!" Maybe the difference is that men don't (or shouldn't) take that kind of thing as a serious referendum on their actual intelligence. And neither should women.
Finally, let me register surprise that South Park and The Onion are known as "guy things," or at least that lonewolfy has several female friends who think so. What dummies! I bet they like Oprah.
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Family Guy's just gotten too formulaic...
Whereas South Park is self-aware enough (as a good satire should be) to actually mock itself when one of its formulas becomes tired and beaten to death...e.g. Kenny dying in each episode.
Kstone, you're right that Family Guy does have at least one or two LOL moments in each episode; but overall, the story arcs in South Park are - for me at least - a much more hilarious experience!
I just saw the "Killer whale to the moon" SP episode in a local TV rerun last nite - it was the kind of comic/satirical gem that Family Guy (even with its best Stewie moments) simply cannot rival.