Letters to the Editor
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enough already
hasn't this dead bitch er, I meant dead horse been kicked enough? at this point, this issue has got to be the bloodiest corpse Salon has ever foisted upon its readership, bar none. piss on CP! enough already!
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edwards a knife-sharp debater?
i lost interest in Ms Paglia's article when i saw her describe Edwards as a knife-sharp debater!
if this high-priced lawyer is so good on his feet, why did he not show his stuff during his VP debate with Cheney?
he didn't do any better than that other loser, Lieberman, who only sucked up to Cheney and chatted like two old pals.
cut and thrust, that's what was needed!
not faux camaraderie.
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I agree
With those who ask for evidence of Paglia's original thought. I haven't seen anything original so far....
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It's been a fun damn dead horse to beat though!
Hasn't it?
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Camille Is A Fart-Sniffy Freakazoid
Blappity Blippity Blap!
What a buncha crap!
Fart Sniffin Freaks!
TaDOW!
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Rock On Camille!
I couldn't be happier to see a strong, clear voice of reasonable analysis on current affairs. (I should note that I like her writing even if we disagree on matters including H. Clinton).
I only wish this were weekly so I wouldn't have to wait so long for insightful discourse. This is one reason I will continue my subscription SALON. ROCK ON CAMILLE!
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Ain't life wonderful
Camille the Squeal is back to launch another circular firing squad for the Democrats just in time for the primaries. Ain't life grand.
And yeah, consider my subscription cancelled too.
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Ode to Camille
camille
arent these letters a blast
the people love you and hate you
you are caesar, returning
to bask in rome's adulation
be careful of shadows
and wary of those few days in march
(which are coming up soon, i see)camille
i always knew youd come back
like macarthur to tell us
where we have gone wrong
to rouse us with intemperate shouts
cries of longing strangled
by lustthey will say you divide us
they will say you polarize
as if all of us
standing in one place
saying the same thing
is desirablecamille
it is good to hear your loud voice again
booming across the quad
i wish i still had that leather jacket
but strawberryblond took it
and never brought it backshe also took that book you wrote
you know the one
the one that pissed everybody offcamille
its good to know you are not old
afraid of windmills and sunlight
or pissing feebly down your own leg
yes
i am happy to see
you can still write
your name in the snowwarmest regards,
yr pal cal -
Five Hundred Letters...Holy Fucking Shit!
All of you do realize why Salon has brought back Paglia, right? The reason is right here in this avalanche of letters, all of which represent multiple ad views and click-throughs. Remember that in the past, each time Paglia has done a drive-by and posted an essay here, there were a tremendous number of letters. And since we know how Joan Walsh and Company operate, we know why she's been brought back for a monthly column. A month from now your collective ardor will have cooled, ready to be stoked anew, resulting (JW&C hope) in another avalanche of letters. Want Paglia to go away?
Ignore her.
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Where's the justification?
OK, I've read 21 pages of commentary about Camille. I knew from previous postings by her that she drew a lot of letters, but I'd chosen not to read either her articles or letters after getting enough of her shtick years ago (I've subscribed to Salon since the beginning of subscriptions).
I decided to see how other Salon readers were taking the CP resurrection, and to my relief, they're hugely against her being given this venue. She truly doesn't, and never has deserved it, judging her purely on the quality of her "work."
One thing I've noticed in many of the letters praising CP and disparaging her many detractors is they claim (in so many words) that there's no substance to the complaints (richly ironic, that). Well, let's just play along and say that was true. Where then, are the quoted examples of her worthy writing, genuine insight, or simply accurate prognostication? They must be there, I've heard even a broken clock is right twice a day (I've often wondered, could that be true if both hands are missing?). If her detractors are required to give satisfactory explanation for their views, fairness dictates that her supporters do the same, or at least the ones who complain should.
And no, I feel no need whatsoever to read her again, she proved too long ago with her blame-the-victim writings that she is beneath contempt.
For Salon: please exhibit more sound judgment in the future. Just like that monstrous hit-piece you did on the late, great Mediawhoresonline.com which I won't forgive until you apologize, you tread very thin ice when you waste resources on stupid bloviators. Thankfully the wonderful writings of Joe Conason and others greatly outweigh your stupidity with CP, or I'd be adding my voice to the chorus of no-longer-subscribers.
Learn to differentiate quality from web-hits.
--Ron Robertson
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camille's back...
...i gotta go pee.
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If CP had a penis or a tail, she's be a neo-con clown
If CP had a penis or a tail, she's be a neo-con clown or George Will or a proto-Ann Coulter with a hipster edge (hahaha). There I said it.
Is this horse completely dead yet or shall we get Madonna to ride the dead horse like in her last tour...or maybe some light S&M with a definate "top" flair to it. You know, something Cammie can surely appreciate.
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Trick of the Tail
Of course Salon will not retract this latest boondoggle, despite massive reader protests. They haven't yet so far.
Stay the course, etc. The similarity to the Bush presidency, which others have pointed out, is astonishing.
It's Salon's apparently utter contempt for its own readers that has the power to astonish me still. And naturally, this latest upswell of protest can only increase the contempt.
We're unwashed, hulking Calibans, who lack the intellectual power to know good cultural criticism when we see it, remember? We only prove how primitive we are by getting angry, and by falling right back into the game: click/KA-CHING!
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Camille Paglia Who?
Who is Camille Paglia?
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Salon Readers Disgusted with Paglia (Please Read): Here's What You Can Do.
Actually, while Rob Anderson has some good ideas, there's more you can do as a Salon reader and present or former subscriber than just "ignore her."
Salon may judge the failure or success of a columnist by how many letters or clicks they get, but that doesn't tell advertisers how those columns are coming across to readers. It's much like how the proposed t.v. special about O.J. Simpson's "If I Did It" book would have drawn a huge audience, but advertisers stayed away in droves because viewers let them know people would be watching, if they watched, in bemused disgust, rather than approval of the spectacle. Not the best atmopsphere to sell your product. Salon holds only part of the stakes in whether or not you subscribe. Each time you purchase a subscription, you also support whatever business Salon is presently partnering with for those subscriptions. For example, right now, Salon's offer is a "free" subscription if you sign up for an American Express Card, much like they sometimes offer a "free" subscription to the New Yorker, if you subscribe. But those businesses have a right to know exactly what they're supporting and what content their ads and promotions are appearing with.
So, what I recommend to the many readers who are upset with Salon's decision to endlessly promote Camille Paglia is that instead of just cancelling, not re-newing or threatening to cancel your subscriptions, you take just a few moments and draft a short letter you can send to some of Salon's advertisers informing them of some of Paglia's rhetoric and asking them if they're comfortable associating themselves with it. Be polite, and there's no need to threaten a boycott or anything, but, chances are, these companies are unaware of some of the frankly bigotted views of the columnist Salon plans to offer. It is in the best interest of these companies, the readers, and, ultimately, Salon itself, if the advertisers make as informed a choice as possible as to where their advertising dollars go.
For example, here's a short list of Paglia quotes we've discussed earlier in the letters you might forward to these companies and see if they're comfortable with a site that regularly praises and promotes this voice. The first comes from a Playboy interview with Paglia, the rest actually come from Paglia's previous writings on Salon:
"I believe that nature rewards things that are in its best interest and punishes things that are not. Homosexual promiscuity is not in nature's best interest. Certainly not anal sex. Nature wants us to procreate." (Camille Paglia, Playboy Interview, 1995)
"As a scholar, however, I am troubled by the provincialism and amorality of the gay male world, when compared to the vastness of philosophical perspective provided by orthodox religion -- or even by ancient paganism, which honored nature." (06/23/98) (Please ask the advertisers if they'd be comfortable with a site that allowed the same generalizations to be made with other minorities, i.e., if the comments were instead phrased as "the provincialism and amorality of blacks" or "the provincialism and amorality of Jewish people" or if the advertisers are comfortable that, in both of the above quotes, Paglia sets gay men as somehow opposed to "nature").
Or ask them if they're comfortable with a writer who regularly offers a "blame the victim" mentality, as in the following: ""It is vulnerable individuals on the front line, like Matthew Shepard, who pay the price for the thoughtless war games of the gay political establishment and their pawns in the urban media elite... gay activism lulled [Shepard] into a false sense of security about the world." (Paglia, Salon 10/28/98) To put it in proper perspective, ask Salon's advertisers if Paglia claimed that the Civil Rights Movement lulled James Byrd into his violent racial-motivated movement, if Salon would continue to praise and promote that columnist.
Salon's advertisement for Camille Paglia is that she's "Telling It Like It Is Since 1995." Well, in 1995, Paglia was saying that AIDS was natures punishment against homosexuals. Ask Salon's advertsiers if they agree that that's "telling it like it is."
You might remind them, if necessary, that if a lesbian is fiercely prejudiced against gay men, it is still homophobia, the same as if a gay man repeatedly wrote a column attacking lesbians.
It will only take you as long to write Salon's advertisers as writing a letter to Salon (in fact, once you've formed your basic letter, you can send the same concerns to several companies), and you'll be doing both readers and advertisers a service. I recommend you start with the advertisers represented today:
American Express
Warner Brothers (who, note, are promoting a DVD today "Infamous" about Truman Capote for a movie with strong appeal to gay audiences)
St. Martin's Press
That's a start for now, and you'll be doing something more productive (and informative) than just cancelling or not renewing your subscription, as this makes little impact on Salon's editors if they're simply counting clicks or letters and somehow feel that "all publicity is good publicity."