Letters to the Editor
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What Ron Robertson said.
Ron Robertson is right on target and actually makes sense for those of us who care about the direction of this country and who are on the ground trying to make it happen. Why doesn't Salon offer him a monthly column?
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Welcome Back!!!!!!
I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I frequently check to see if there is any word from Camille Paglia , and was so surprised and delighted this morning. No one like Her !!!!!
This from a pro life, independent/conservative liberterian .
Love her observations and have all her books.
Again, welcome back !
AMICAH
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Yes, Ron, I'm literal-minded.
I’m taking what you say at face value and assuming that you're expressing your thoughts clearly.
For instance, you say: “My main objection isn't that CP doesn't talk about what I want her to talk about.”
Then in the next breath, you claim she doesn’t add any valuable insight.
I disagree and feel she DOES add valuable insight. She always forces me to re-examine my thinking…something that people who say things I already know & agree with rarely do.
So in the end, you object to her writing because it doesn’t happen to appeal to you personally or serve your personal agenda.
As far as I can tell, ALL you’re doing is objecting that Paglia and the rest of the news media aren’t talking about what you’d like them to talk about. Instead, they’re saying what’s on their minds, and communicating with their actual, non-theoretical audience….like me. People who care about both John Edwards’ take on the future of Social Security AND his hair.
You also claim to know what “the news media’s” job is, and what they’re getting paid to do, as though you’ve read each of their contracts personally. That’s pretty arrogant. Salon is clearly paying Camille Paglia to be Camille Paglia.
Camille Paglia is really into social mythology and expressions of “masculinity” and power and all that. Her background is literary, and she filters her analysis accordingly, and what comes out might be about the symbolism of hair. If that doesn’t appeal to you, don’t read it. Personally, I dig it.
I get that you and an army of others would have Paglia be more “substantive” – by your definition.
I get that you’re all pissed that she doesn’t talk about what you think Kids Today need to hear and you’re frustrated that America is blithely skipping after these “airheads” and ignoring the “real” issues.
I hear that you’re really pissed at the state of the media in this country because the poor dewy-eyed innocent public doesn’t know any better than to swallow whatever pablum the REAL grown-ups (ie: the media) spoon-feed them. Paglia’s your whipping girl on that complaint.
However, I absolutely, completely 100% disagree that Paglia provides nothing of substance.
And before you call me stupid again, please understand that I fully grasp that YOU find no substance in what she’s saying, and you believe me to be shallow for finding what you don’t. Again, I'll disagree. This is America, and unfortunately for you I’m here too and I’m actually NOT stupid or shallow. It’s not that simple.
If these are dangerous times for you & yours, it’s because we’re getting the democracy we pay for.
If people simply can’t imagine what their lives would be like without the civil liberties they take for granted, and no one has encouraged them otherwise, there’s no media equivalent of a “Scared Straight” video that’s going to smack them into consciousness.
If girls need to see abortion made illegal before they can imagine what that’s like, that’s what’ll happen. If boys need to have THEIR families threatened before they care about immigration, same. People are inspired by a personal connection to the issues, not the freaking media.
And speaking of projection, Ron: PEOPLE (I never said you, but a clear majority of others) click on the story about Britney Spears’ shaved head and could give two shits about the Scooter Libby trial. My point was that your complaint about lack of substance in the media is specious.
The “news” is choked with substance. You can’t swing at cat these days without hitting a charismatic, vibrant and galvanizing POINT.
And you know what? People are numbed out and sick of it because they feel powerless to do anything about it. A lot of otherwise intelligent people would rather read about Anna Nicole or play World of Warcraft.
Perhaps it makes you feel empowered to stay informed and complain about “the media” not doing its job to drag everyone else up to your level, but again, you’re just tilting at a windmill.
Most of the young people I know don’t even VOTE, much less read Salon, because they don’t think it’ll matter.
So you want me to take my outrage about that out on Camille Paglia?
Sorry. From where I’m standing, that’s hopelessly naïve.
And as for those letter-writers who are actually, honestly, going to cancel their subscriptions and stop reading Salon because they hired someone who says things you don’t approve of…
Good riddance. You make me ashamed to be a progressive. You’re the reason people see us as rigid, prissy, and prone to hysterical over-reaction. Please, by all means, go over to the Huffington Post where your delicate sensibilities will remain protected from the opinions of the other real, live messy humans who make up the rest of your democracy,
But you’ll be missing a whole lot of really great writing.
And when you go, please don’t expect the people who stayed to take you seriously.
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Pulling out the Troops
I like most of Ms. Camille's writing and ideas. I really do.
However, I just think she happens to be a ill-informed semi-illiterate when it comes to her opinions surrounding Iraq and the strategic consequences of withdrawaing "tomorrow," as she screams with such unintentionally-funny moral vanity.
She talks as if she actually has informed opinions on the matter. Somehow I doubt that ...
Does she know (without looking it up after reading this question) what the Quds force is? I doubt it.
Does she know if the Quds force is Sunni or Shia? I doubt it.
Does she know if the Omar Brigade is a Sunni or Shia organization? I doubt it.
Does she know if Nouri al-Maliki is a Sunni or a Shiite? I doubt it.
Does she know who Abu Ayyub al-Masri is? I doubt it.
Does she know where Muqtada al-Sadr is living right now? I doubt it.
Does she know who Sayed Qtub is? I doubt it.
Does she even know if I spelled the foregoing names correctly? I truly doubt it.
If she doesn't know the answer to even 2 of the above questions, then she is, as I said before, a semi-illiterate blowhard who (i) isn't even superficially familiar with the most basic players or facts in the area and (ii) is therefore incapable of making an informed judgment about what we should do in Iraq.
I know the answer to all of the above questions, and yet I consider myself to be, at best, a dilletante in these matters. And I submit that I've forgotten more than Ms. Camille will ever know about Iraq.
And anyone who calls for an immediate retreat from the mess in Iraq without considering, nay, without comprehending, the short-term and long-term consequences of such an act isn't very knowledgeable about history either.
We have enough badly-educated imbeciles in the media negligently misrepresenting the world and our country's relationship to it. We don't need any more ignoramuses spewing their Saturday morning cartoon frolics vision of the world to the rest of us.
Ms. Camille, you're great as a culture/pop critic; when it comes to world conflict and strategy, you're an ignorant teenager. ... And because of that I wouldn't trust you with the keys to the car.