Camille Paglia on Palin: 'She uses language with the rippling momentum of a be-bop saxophonist'

[BurtWorm]

:spray:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/paglia/2008/11/12/palin/index1.html



I like Sarah Palin, and I've heartily enjoyed her arrival on the national stage. As a career classroom teacher, I can see how smart she is -- and quite frankly, I think the people who don't see it are the stupid ones, wrapped in the fuzzy mummy-gauze of their own worn-out partisan dogma. So she doesn't speak the King's English -- big whoop! There is a powerful clarity of consciousness in her eyes. She uses language with the jumps, breaks and rippling momentum of a be-bop saxophonist. I stand on what I said (as a staunch pro-choice advocate) in my last two columns -- that Palin as a pro-life wife, mother and ambitious professional represents the next big shift in feminism. Pro-life women will save feminism by expanding it, particularly into the more traditional Third World.

As for the Democrats who sneered and howled that Palin was unprepared to be a vice-presidential nominee -- what navel-gazing hypocrisy! What protests were raised in the party or mainstream media when John Edwards, with vastly less political experience than Palin, got John Kerry's nod for veep four years ago? And Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, for whom I lobbied to be Obama's pick and who was on everyone's short list for months, has a record indistinguishable from Palin's. Whatever knowledge deficit Palin has about the federal bureaucracy or international affairs (outside the normal purview of governors) will hopefully be remedied during the next eight years of the Obama presidencies.

[KamaAina]

1. "We had to destroy that feminism in order to save it"

:eyes:

[amdezurik]

2. no such thing as a "pro-life" movement hun

as long as it does not address state sponsored murder in all it's forms.

[niyad]

3. camille, nobody cares what you think. especially if you think palin has anything to do with

feminism.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

41. There's 40+ posts in this thread says you're wrong...

"Agrees with" might be closer to the mark...

[Beaverhausen]

4. for anyone who still doubts Paglia's irrelevance...

exhibit A.

[ananda]

5. Remember that Camille Paglia is someone..

.. that neocons jerk off to.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

6. I've never agreed with Camille Paglia on anything

I always thought she was an ertatz feminist and a plant. Now I know it.

[ladjf]

7. Paglia has "gone around the bend". nt

[ProfessorGAC]

8. OK, I Was Wrong About Paglia

I thought she was an idiot. But, i had no idea she had no brain at all!
The Professor

[niyad]

9. I am offended on behalf of all sax players

[Kurt Remarque]

10. camille - may you suffer by association

[Stinky The Clown]

11. Is she still alive?

How did *that* rock get turned over?

[nomorenomore08]

12. Meh... Paglia just gets off on being contrary. Always has.

:shrug:

[Tallison]

55. Conspicuously absent is any reference to Palin's *ideas*

The whole editorial is a paen to Palin's demogogary, which just reconfirms Paglia's agenda as a professional contrarian. She's clearly bright, but her relentless challenging of intellectual orthodoxy leads her to some pretty tortured, conflicting conclusions.

[Beregond2]

13. Camille has a crush.

Why anyone cares what this irrelevant loon thinks about anything is beyond me.

[BrklynLiberal]

14. "Bring back the psychotics!" I can understand how she would empathize with them....

[niyad]

15. so she doesn't speak the king's english--big whoop??? the twit has a degree in journalism,

camille, which should have indicated some ability with her native language.

seriously, this crap about it being okay to be on the international stage and be a complete illiterate is very annoying. surely the very least we should be able to expect from such people is a reasonable proficiency in their native tongue?

after all, if I, a non-native, can do a credible job with this language, surely a person born here should be able to do at least as well.

[Gullvann]

16. No wonder I get a headache listening to her.

The same thing happens with jazz :-)

[BurtWorm]

17. At least beboppers are in control of their sounds.

[cali]

18. I've never been a fan of Paglia's intellectual shock style

or of the content, which is invariably shallow and often, as in this inane piece of nonsense, dishonest. Edwards had a full term in the Senate when Kerry chose him, substantially more experience than Palin.

Palin is astonishingly inarticulate and praising her speaking ability and knowledge is simply laughable.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

19. Bebop? She makes Kenny G look talented.

[4themind]

20. It's a nice line but...

the other parts of the piece seem to be a verbal fellating of palin, and a verbal filtering of Dems.

[BurtWorm]

21. I think Paglia meant it as a compliment to Palin

But saxophonists everywhere should be deeply insulted.

[Hissyspit]

46. She goes on about Ayers and Dohrn and says the connection wasn't covered by the press.

She's full of her usual shit.

[NYCGirl]

22. Camille's in love again. I guess she thinks Madonna's too old for her now. NT

[skypilot]

23. I suspect that the only reason for the existence...

...of this piece of nonsense is so that she can string together these words:

fuzzy mummy-gauze of their own worn-out partisan dogma

She probably had that one lying around for a while and was just looking for an excuse to use it. Notice that it could have been used in a piece about either a Republican or a Democrat. She just happened to aim it at us this time. This asshole has officially lost it.

[RichardRay]

24. Camille is a very talented writer and uses language beautufully,

unfortunately, she's a complete bozo about 90% of the time when it comes to the actual content of what she says.

[htuttle]

25. There's one thing that's clear after reading this

Camille Paglia does not understand bebop.

[EFerrari]

26. With a cleft palate, she forgot to add.

[readmoreoften]

27. Paglia tries to be "balanced" but in reality, she's a moron full of good ol' fashioned Nietschean

ressentiment--the exact charge she lays at the feet of the feminists she dislikes so much. Frankly, she's gross and a shock value opportunist with little to contribute but ranting and opinion couched in "Harold Bloom" language.

She and Palin can both be-bop off the side of a cliff, thanks.

[ismnotwasm]

28. Pagilia

Is out of her rabbit ass mind. Has been for a long time. It's only natural, given her history, that she'd embrace Palin. Her endorsement is NOT a complement.

[Crankie Avalon]

29. Oh, sure....she put the "nut" in "Salt Peanuts." nt

[depakid]

30. Paglian and Palin: yesterday's news and soon to be yesterday's news

[babylonsister]

31. An insult to saxophonists and saxophones! nt

[randr]

32. I would equate her voice to the annoying drone of a bagpipe

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[gratuitous]

34. Wait a second . . .

I'm a bit lost on her alleged point here: "what navel-gazing hypocrisy! What protests were raised in the party or mainstream media . . . {about} Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, for whom I lobbied to be Obama's pick and who was on everyone's short list for months, has a record indistinguishable from Palin's."

Uhm, Palin was chosen to run on the national ticket, and Sebelius was not? I'm not sure what the equivalency Paglia is trying to establish here. If she's saying that Palin and Sebelius are equally unprepared, the fact that Palin was selected and Sebelius wasn't would appear to undercut her own argument? Perhaps anyone who thinks that Paglia has a flair for writing could explain this?

Because otherwise, I'm ready to vomit with the staccato brilliance of a shoulder-mounted SAM launcher.

[ColbertWatcher]

35. Someone is still publishing Paglia!? Who knew? n/t

[hatrack]

36. No, she uses language with the flailing ineptitude of a fifth-grader trying to play "Giant Steps"

Paglia. What a clown.

[Swede]

37. "There is a powerful clarity of consciousness in her eyes." Bullshit!

There's only mean spirited pettiness in those eyes.

[bobd0]

38. How dare she denegrate Bebop?!

Charlie Parker's command of the language of music was unparalleled.

Palin has the command of the English language of a third grader.

Ridiculous.

[northernsoul]

39. In the name of John Coltrane and Dexter Gordon

I CAST THEE OUT!

Seriously, I found the first third or so of 'Sexual Personae' to be intriguing about 10 years ago, but Camille has seriously nuked the fridge now.

[TlalocW]

40. Considering she comparable at public speaking to Bush

Does that make W. an opera virtuoso?

Don't insult jazz by comparing Palin favorably to it. Music should be pleasant to listen to (although beauty is in the ear of the beholder), and I can't think of too many people who really want to listen to her that much.

TlalocW

[BurtWorm]

43. Bush actually is more proficient at English speaking than she is--by far

That's not saying much about Bush, of course... My cats are more proficient at speaking English than Sarah Palin. And they don't even speak English!

[Rob H.]

42. "...I can see how smart she is"

Please. Palin talks and talks and talks and talks and says nothing. If you're a "career classroom teacher" and you can't see that, Camille, I'd hate to take any classes from you--they would probably be excruciating.

[Hissyspit]

44. Ha, ha. You're funny, Camille.

Narcissist supports narcissist.

There is smart iconclasm and there is stupid iconclasm.

[omega minimo]

45. Paglia is nuts

[saltpoint]

47. Camille. Darling. We know you get off by playing the Contrarian,

but in the name of God, pick a better fight to fight than this one.

[Coexist]

50. no, Old Crusoe, let her wrap herself tightly in this...

I think that is a great way to end her relevance.

[saltpoint]

56. Yep. It's funny in some ways because I don't imagine Palin has

ever even heard of Camille, and I think Camille is playing her old publicity game, the one where she says the most outrageous things just to freak out the cool-browed male acadmics in her immediate circle.

What a hoot it would be if Palin had Camille Paglia campaign for her in say, Amarillo or Macon.

[TexasObserver]

48. OMG! She's still alive?!

[Buzz Clik]

49. Um. Yeah. I think Camille's spit valve is clogged.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

51. This Molly Ivins quote is rather fitting:

"There is one area in which I think Paglia and I would agree that politically correct feminism has produced a noticeable inequity. Nowadays, when a woman behaves in a hysterical and disagreeable fashion, we say, 'Poor dear, it's probably PMS.' Whereas, if a man behaves in a hysterical and disagreeable fashion, we say, 'What an asshole.' Let me leap to correct this unfairness by saying of Paglia, Sheesh, what an asshole."

[mitchum]

52. Camille Paglia ia a very compelling argument against affirmative action

that half-bright bitch would have NEVER received tenure in another time or place (and rightly so)

[IDemo]

53. with the rippling momentum of a be-shitfaced banjo player, maybe

[RadicalTexan]

54. Well, it takes a "feminist" to know a "feminist"

I guess.

:shrug:

[MilesColtrane]

57. If Palin had been elected, feminism would have taken Giant Steps backward.

And, the whole damn country would have ended up Kind of Blue.

[foxfeet]

58. Paglia--the same tired, old attention whore she's always been.

[Monk06]

59. I had her pegged as a reactionary in 1987 in art school when it was verboten

to criticize any women intellectual if you were
male.

She can't honestly believe that sending so called
pro-life feminists (who are almost 100% fundamentalist
christian by the way) into the third world will be the
next big shift in feminism? She's crazy.

In most third world countries strict patriarchy is
rule and women have no rights at all. Does she think
the Taliban or Fundamentalist Sikhs or Hindus will
allow Christian Pro-lifers to threaten their all male
monopoly on political and social power?

And women's rights aren't held in high regard by Christian
Congregations. So from where are we to expect these pro life
feminists to arise?

[Berry Cool]

60. Sarah Palin reminds me of this saxophonist:

[Neshanic]

61. Andrew Sullivan and her get a group rate at various shrinks.