Mean
Maybe if…
Maybe if Syrian people started being blown up while running marathons in Boston then the white race would care more about it…
Men in partial or full military dress went door to door, separating men — and boys 10 and older — from women and younger children.
Residents said some gunmen were from the National Defense Forces, the new framework for pro-government militias, mainly Alawites in the Baniyas area. They bludgeoned and shot men, shot or stabbed families to death and burned houses and bodies.
– “Grisly Killings in Syrian Towns Dim Hopes for Peace Talks,” Anne Barnard
… Although, according to Baby Adolf, if you want attention for being killed by the boatloads then you should probably be J E W I S H.
Speaking of that, Baby Idi is having a hard time comprehending that “Jewish, New York sense of humor.” Is there anyone out there that can elucidate it for him?
… Anywho, Baby Marie-Antoinette could really use a soft cherry cream cheese croissant right about now.
Tags: baby adolf, baby idi, baby marie-antoinette, bambi muse, cherry cream cheese croissant, dead, killing, Murder, syria, the white race, violence, war
So I know that at this point the response to Oelbaum’s anti-semitic trolling by other writers on this site is silence… but why is that? What would happen if he expanded his trolling to other types of racism? (Well, actually I think his posts reveal a deeper paternalistic racism towards black Americans or African or Arab people, all of whom he treats as aliens or children… so maybe that’s acceptable now too..?)
I don’t understand why anyone would want to have someone like this writing for their website. I guess thank you for proving yet again that Jew-hatred is acceptable in “progressive” circles if expressed in a certain political way, with enough “ironic” distance, but at some point doesn’t there have to be a glimmer of principle left to give this stuff the boot?
Cue ‘chiller than thou’ fallacy etc.
“It’s experimental performance art, not trolling.”
In all seriousness, folks have checked out. This site is officially boring and repetitive. I peek in a few times per day to see if, heaven forbid, there’s something interesting here, but meh, it’s usually another syllabus post or the millionth post on Tao Lin. Articles are now lucky to receive two comments. The site has lost a lot of writers over the last year. Seth is probably jizzing his underoos over the two comments he’s received here, since his last two or three posts received zero.
Mike Meginnis has spoken out, and obliquely, Mike Young; AD Jameson, it feels, has nicely played along in parallel. I’ve remained reticent (until now) because I had (let not the past tense seem presumptive) nothing constructive to offer regarding issues that were far greater than this site, and its commenters/contributors, could possibly deal with; I also didn’t want to give Seth the attention he was lazily seeking (I, admittingly, seek attention here too, but I feel I’m at
least putting the hours in). I’ve had convos with Mike Young and David
Fishkind about Seth (I doubt [hope] they [don’t] mind being implicated)
and we’ve all earnestly wondered if the homophobic/anti-semitic schtick is ironic or slightly crazy, given — and I’m going out on a limb here — that he’s homosexual and maybe Jewish (“-baum” is a Jewish surname right?). Even as I type this, I imagine Seth enthralled by the typing of his same, by being known, writing something smarter
in response, or more probable, dismissing this with impenetrable irony for which his sunnies serves as metaphor, which I guess we’ve all been guilty of at one point in our growing up. The sad thing is, the masochistic part of me enjoys htmlgiant being bled dry by Seth, but what’s sadder is that there’s not much to save. I see myself as Seth’s unwitting corroborator by even responding, which says so much about the dilution of meaningful discourse online. Perhaps the library, with its dank fat books won, commitment you could feel in your lap. This site began as a place for people to disagree — about literature
— and to work through those disagreements, collectively, in the name of expanded thought. Seth wants us to expand our minds, to see the searing truth behind our own racism and hypocrisy. Intellectually, I can admire that, but this just feels boring. From the shark’s point of view, we are gloriously aloft.
I think your posts are smart and funny, Jimmy Chen.
WHENEVER ZZZZZIPPP WONDERS IF HTMLGIANT IS “DEAD” THERE IS A FLURRY OF ACTIVITY AND WHILE THE SITE CERTAINLY MISSES BLAKE BUTLER, ROXANE GAY, JUSTIN TAYLOR, ETC, ETC, ETC IT SEEMS LIKE YOU WOULD RATHER IT DIE FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE OF VALIDATING YOUR CRIPPLINGLY OBESE EGO
SERIOUSLY COME ON
HTMLGIANT ONLY POSTS ABOUT TAO LIN? DO YOU THINK THIS IS 2010? IT’S NOT 2010 ANYMORE BRO
Yawn.
Yes, let’s keep repeating ourselves ad infinitum. What we’ve said about Seth’s previous posts could be said about this one. Lack of response is not complicity. It’s fatigue.
Add me to the list of HTMLGiant contributors who find these posts increasingly boring, unclever, and unworthy.
hey zzippy –
remember the dayz of double z’s – ZZZZZIPPP & zusya?? well i do!
i first found HTMLGIANT by googling ‘creative writing’, because i was teaching a remedial ‘literacy’ class in summer school in east oakland – and found an interesting post by Justin Taylor at htmlg about his creative writing class
and that’s where it all started for mimi
ahhhh the good ol’ daze
Agreed. What brought me to HTMLG in the first place was its resemblance to a writing site I frequented years ago called Strangeminds, which happened to be visited by Rumble editor Craig Snyder, who published my first poem in one of Rumble’s first or so issues. I thought, cool, HTMLG will be as diverse and lively as that site was. It was chill for a while. But I am beginning to see it as something else entirely. Not a big deal. None of this shit is really a big deal, because it is all fake, an act, a show. — But I don’t like how the posts on this site are a reflection of how society views literature — as something belonging to a specific demographic.
The contributors have been widely white. And if they are not white, they are the standard in either academia, or in this m-f’ing “online lit scene”, whatever it is. And, really, “alt lit” or whatnot, is an extension of the academia circle. I mean, Jereme Dean and Sam Pink, Melissa Broder, Mike Young — those cats I can roll with. I get the feeling they have experiences that are outside of the norm. What some universities call “non traditional students”.
And this Seth cat is just proof of a feeling I’ve had a long time about literature in general. This Seth guy, to me, is like Kim Kardashian. It made me realize that we’ve gotten to a point in literature, where people actually do think like this. Act like this. And others are going to just accept it because they exist within the community.
I’d rather visit a site where I can relate to the people posting, to the stuff that’s up here. HTMLG used to be like that.
This is kind of the reason why I’d rather hang out with some dudes from Rollin 20s or some a drug dealer than be subjected to a roomfull of MFA or MFA affiliated writers who really don’t know shit but will pretend they do. They’ll praise Apple products as the salvation of society. They’ll look down on a homeless guy walking up to them. They’ll hold literary contests, take your money, then give the rewards to their friends. Their art will resemble a lot of other art being made. They’ll be afraid to have an audience beyond the small group of people they see day in and out, or that pop up on their Facebook feeds.
I’ve been saying the following to myself for months now: This isn’t the lit community I signed up for when I was a little kid and I wanted to become a writer. It wasn’t the community I thought would be here when I was in high school and told my teacher I was going to be a writer. I’d rather publish people and not write, because, man…
ZZZZZIPPP,
I wonder how many writers you know in meatspace if it’s some shocking revelation I have an “obese ego.” I’m not talkin’ Tumblr “curators” or gimmicks more interested in PR than writing. I’m talkin’ writers who bleed and suffer for this shit. Of course I’m damaged, batshit crazy and cranky and not into circle jerking and repetitiveness. This writing stuff is serious and I’d be dead without it (seriously).
Now, buddy roe, I don’t know what you mean by this supposed “flurry of activity,” because I’m not seeing it. Maybe it reappears in flits and glimmers–okay–but it’s not as consistent as it used to be. I’ve also talked to many folks who flatout say they don’t bother with this site anymore because it’s turned stale. AD Jameson and Chen write good stuff, but it takes more than two people and they both have their specific lanes.
When you take away Roxane with one “N” and the manic energy of Kyle “Who Never Sleeps” Minor, the site loses two lanes it once had (just two examples). You’ve gone from a multi-lane beltline to a two-lane potholed rural highway in Bumfuck, WV. Then you replace those two lanes with twits like this kid who, btw, I’d love to ask Joyelle McSweeney about: “Joyelle, how did you pass this guy though Notre Dame?” Accuse me all you want of being abrasive, but you can never accuse me of being boring, passionless, and lacking for ideas.
That said, I do not want this site to diel! It’s one of the only literary sites I know of that has such an active and accessible comment section. Also, I can assure you that my grandiose ego is already validated with or without this site’s existence!
Rack it.
I’ve already stated my opinion on Seth several times, and I’ve stopped commenting on his posts because I don’t see much point in repeating myself. The guy’s not going to stop, and he seems to be getting worse. His last few posts have been less shocking and pretty lazily written. “Anywho”? Or from his last post: “She spent most of her time at the festival taking mysterious notes, as if she were spying for a certain country that starts with North and ends in Korea.” Honestly, if you strip out the obnoxious shit, Seth reads like a third-rate Dave Barry.
I think also that at this point, not commenting on one of Seth’s post reads not as acceptance, but as refusal. Though I could be wrong about that.
As for whether HG is “dead” or not, like Jimmy (whose writing I adore and draw a lot of inspiration from), I put the hours in and try to put up meaningful content that I think will interest people, and I read all the other posts (including Seth’s), and I read as many of the comments that I can. And I think about all of that and try to absorb it into my life and my work, then respond. I find meaning and enjoyment in doing that, and as long as that’s happening, the site’s “alive” for me. And I hope others find value here, too. If not, why visit? The internet is vast and there are more than a few books to read.
Furthermore I believe HTMLGiant also welcomes submissions so if you want better/other content here, why not make some, send it in? (Not that complaining in the comments section also isn’t fine, but there are different options.)
School’s preoccupied me the past couple weeks, but now I’m free to do more writing here. I’ll soon revisit the conceptual/constraint business, and conceptual poetry/art more generally. I’m also planning to write more about certain craft issues that have been on my mind as of late. I’ve also been toying with taking a month to write a story here, “live” (but the problem there is I’m already committed to several fiction projects). Next week though I intend to try something different for me; I hope people like it.
Good night and good wishes to all, including Seth,
Adam
So then like, why not reach out to someone and write something? Why not help shape the community so that it becomes what you want it to become?
I only bring this up because I always enjoy your comments and am usually 100% in agreement with what you say about MFA culture, circle-jerk publishing, privilege/academia, etc, etc. If you wrote a post about any of these things, I’d actively engage with it. I’d love to have a dialogue with you about your ideas, rather than the lack of diverse ideas. I can’t do much with the latter besides nod.
Hey hey, I would also like to add that I find, despite the gradually declining hum of activity on this site, that there are still worthwhile things being posted on HTMLG — your posts in particular, Jimmy Chen’s, the occasional interesting question/quote, good reviews, etc.
How do you become a contributer/gain posting access to HTMLG? I’ve been reading & commenting on this site for 3+ years and frequently have had questions/thoughts that I wish I could pose to htmlg people outside of the comments (where they are more likely to get buried). AD, petition for bartleby_taco with the powers at be!!
Email me, someone. Give me the key: scastillo01.student@manhattan.edu
oh, and btw, i taught tao lin’s ‘the ugly fish’ poem that summer – my students loved it
http://www.coconutpoetry.org/lin1.htm
some time ago (prolly ~3 years ago) i suggested there be an HTMLGIANT spin-off site, with posts by commenters, to be called htmlmidget
i made the suggestion in a comment thread, where it was soon buried, ignored, forgotten
I’d say, why don’t you send a submission or try to become a contributor? These sweeping statements about “MFA writer” and “academics” and so on and so forth, are kind of randomly reflexive. Not all “MFA writers” (and I don’t say this out of defensiveness, I don’t have one) can be lumped into a category nor can all “academics” or all, well, any group of people. I totally hear what you’re saying. It can be hard to find people you want to give a damn about in the literary community, but as I’ve said elsewhere, if you can’t find someone to follow, it might be time for you to step up and lead.
htmlmidget is a great idea
For a considered perspective about trolling you might want to read Johannes Göransson’s “Zizek on Tolerance and Trolls”: http://www.montevidayo.com/zizek-on-tolerance-and-trolls/
Actually, Baby Adolf composed that sentence, and he’s very upset that you attributed it to me and not him, as he’s quite proud of it.
My apologies to Baby Adolf, Seth. It’s impressive that a baby can even write; it would be unfair to expect actual quality.
Hi Bartleby, all,
HG’s submission policy is here.
I’m an academic but I don’t have an MFA. And while I understand how and why academic jargon can be useful, but always try to write for a general audience, and that’s very important to me.
THOSE WERE INDEED GOOD DAZE MIMI
ZZZZIPP REMEMBERS ZUSYA AND WILL NOW PROCEED TO THINK OF “ZUSYA”
IRONICALLY ZZZZIPP DISCOVERED HTMLGIANT THROUGH A LINK ON TAO LIN’S BLOG THE DAY IT LAUNCHED
MIMI DO YOU WANT TO START HTMLMIDGET AND MAKE IT OPEN “SOMEHOW”
MAYBE WE COULD CALL IT “HTMLTINY”
So…let me get this straight. Seth is allowed to post whatever he wants–obviously, no sober editor would accept his posts–yet there’s a formal submission policy for everyone else? Why does Seth get to bypass the formal guidelines? Who decided he was good enough to bypass the filter most potential contributors have to bypass? I’d be interested in hearing a response from the mysterious person who solicited him while I’m busy writing my post that will hopefully be accepted because I’ve been encouraged to “do something about it.”
That sounds FUN
Seth, it’s strange to me that you’d point to this post. I find Johannes point there pretty underwhelming, if not backwards. Because there’s a sense in which he’s saying, “Don’t criticize people whose opinions upset you.” (If I had to state my own policy, I’d say, “Criticize everything every second of the day, both what you love and what you despise, and make sure you include yourself.”)
Anywho, calling someone a troll isn’t saying that they can’t express their opinions. It’s claiming some purpose for their claims—identifying why they are speaking (to irritate others). And trying to identify why others are speaking is a crucial part of conversing. (Can you tell I teach rhetoric?)
Granted, a person might troll for many reasons: to get off on making others unhappy, or to raise critical awareness. (Aren’t Zen koans kinda trollish?) I’ve been up front about my impression that I think you lean more toward the latter than the former, or at least intend to.
But I don’t think you’re succeeding. Instead, you’re making the debate about you. You can tell yourself you’re doing it for the dead children in Syria, but I think you’re deluding yourself. Meanwhile, you don’t demonstrate much interest in actually engaging with others—and I don’t those who call you a racist and ask Blake and Gene to “fire” you, but people like me and Kent Johnson, who have tried to engage you in dialogue about the matters that concern you. Maintaining your “me me me” schtick comes across as more important to you than anything else.
And the more you—you—generate that impression, the more you confirm the impression that you’re a troll. Me, I’d say people have the right idea. You can’t use certain rhetorical strategies, then get upset when people identify those rhetorical strategies. To cry unfair over that is to claim exemption from criticism, which would be an odd maneuver indeed from someone who purports to be a fierce critic.
Cheers,
Adam
With all due respect, haven’t you said that you’re not interested in writing for the site? I’m noticing this trend of former regular contributors telling complainers to write something themselves when they are on record as not wanting to write for the site too. That doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.
No, it would have to be HTMLmini. I’d contribute.
Seth’s a site contributor. I don’t know the history behind that, but he need not have been solicited. He might have just asked to be one (which is what I did).
Three non-writers or lovers of brainless kitsch have disliked my reasonable post. I’m looking to earn 20+, so please help me out. Since when was writing in caps lock and referring to yourself in the third-person remotely interesting or funny? Ten years ago?
I’ll add, too (since I love adding) that I don’t support Seth being removed from the site, though I understand why some have called for that. Me, I’d rather see people respond, through commenting or contributing or even choosing not to respond. I’ve tried all three myself. At the risk of naivety, my commitment is to open conversation and participation.
I also think that having Seth “fired” would simply convince him that the world needs his particular brand of obnoxiousness more than ever. And can you imagine him becoming even more sanctimonious?
Fair enough, and thanks for the response. I also agree that he shouldn’t be “fired” for the reasons you mention, and while Don certainly meant well, I sort of wish he wouldn’t have begun this conversation. I was enjoying the dead air and “0 comments” and noticed it got to Seth because he clearly tried to be more trollish in this post as a response to the lack of comments in his two-three previous posts.
I understand wanting open conversation and participation, but at some point there is a limit to that, right? There are a lot of noxious people in the world, and it doesn’t matter sense to offer them a space here when they can be noxious on their own websites (or in comments or something).
The part of this that’s interesting to me is how anti-semitism is semi-acceptable and debatable in a way that other racism is not.
Mark man, I feel you. I left out the part about how I am designing a publishing company as an arm of my overall entertainment venture, hoping to do exactly what I am saying, and change things to represent a wider community. I am actively pursuing that, everyday. And I don’t want it to be misconstrued that I am saying all MFAs, or people who are MFA affiliated are “one way or another”. That would just be dumb. Daniel Romo, a Los Angeles based poet, has an MFA. I knew him before and I am happy to count him among my friends still. That isnt the type of artist I am pointing out. Sadly, though, he is the minority. He, and artists like him, are the future. Their experiences range. And it is reflected in the work.
Hi Don,
Yeah, I don’t know how HG’s policy for who can/can’t be a contributor. They let me join so my guess is anyone can.
I still don’t entirely get the argument that Seth is anti-Semitic, because it seems to me he’s using that language to make another point. I don’t read him as being opposed to the Jewish people, but rather the privileging of certain kinds of suffering over others. Which anyone can do, Jewish or otherwise.
If that’s Seth’s argument, I don’t find it controversial. I mean, I read Noam Chomsky as an undergrad, too. And I do think people are wrong to read Seth literally. The schtick is part of his message. Though I might be wrong about all of this, and Seth certainly doesn’t encourage a more patient engagement with his work. (He’s no Noam Chomsky.)
Now I really am repeating myself, so I’m returning to my fiction writing and coffee drinking. As always, nice talking with everyone (including you, Seth).
Cheers,
Adam
Adam,
I think this article makes a good argument for why Seth’s rhetoric (which is merely repeating and oft-repeated cliche) is anti-semitic: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/the_spectator/2012/08/_holocaust_obsessed_it_s_the_new_anti_semitic_slur_.html
The other reason I think Oelbaum’s posts are worth discussing is that he’s expressing (in a crude, stupid way) ideas that are distressingly popular in the world of the anti-imperialist left/isolationist right. If you go to counterpunch or other sites like that, you’ll find similar sentiments, albeit written clearly and with more subtlety.
i find it interesting in these comment threads that SO rarely/barely responds – making me think of the old adage – his “silence speaks volumes”
tho in this case i imagine it might be volumes of nothing i’d be interested in hearing
or maybe simply volumes of nothing
i’d also be interested in hearing from either joyelle mcsweeney, whose voice has been requested in these threads –
or better yet, the administration of ND –
having graduated from there myself several years ago, i’d be very interested
let’s call it HTMLtinyminimidget
and feeling much more like a fish in water having emigrated to the beautiful bay area
Murder, f**k, or marry: Chris Higgs, Seth Oelbaum, Adam Jameson
the day tao lin’s blog launched or the day htmlg launched?and is one more ironic than t’other?
and remember sean love-y’s crunk-friday posts boy could use one rihgt about now
and is anyone interested in the ‘vocabulary list’ culled from that fine poem? i’d be more than happy to post it here
oh well, nobody asked, but here it is anyway
vocabulary list:
manatee
veganism
alice notley
irreconcilable
bobohomomobi
humangotantinularic
cognitive-behavioral therapy
metaphysics
mimi, I really like your comments, I don’t think you should worry about making too many of them
That article basically boils down to: Let’s not overuse the word ‘obsessed,’ especially not in referring to concern over the Holocaust. And I did not detect anything about a current “trend” of anti-Semitism apart from concern over Iran. Its “argument” is dependent upon unsubstantiated supposition about a phrase the author hears and reads a little more often than he’d like.
you should stick around, MM, HTMLG could use more voices like yours
you can still learn interesting things about literature at this site
[and about ‘community’ – in the comment threads – ha ha]
altho perhaps it shouldn’t be (and prolly isn’t) the only site you ‘depend on’ for such things
also, i’m pretty sure that ND, one of the most ‘traditional’ universities around, would consider SO a “non traditional student” – or maybe not, idk…
aww thanks emmab
: )
Yes.
I think you’re right that Rosenbaum’s blogicle does nothing to reinforce the assertion that Oelbaum’s writing is anti-Semitic; Adam’s thumbnail sketch of Oelbaum’s purposes seems perfectly fair.
But you’re too easy on Rosenbaum; the thrust of the blogicle is in its subtitle: “Calling people ‘Holocaust-obsessed’ is the new holocaust denial.”
(“[H]olocaust denial”? Holocaust denial is inexcusable by or to reason; if one can make it stick as a comparable, no fineness of mind will rescue what it’s stuck to.)
I’m pretty Holocaust-obsessed–and why not? I think the Sebald point (that Rosenbaum quotes and admirably qualifies) is accurate: “no serious person thinks of anything else”. No serious person disregards the enormity of the Shoah, nor, I’d add, fails to condemn its neglect.
Such denial is not what Rosenbaum is illuminating in, say, putting ‘peace activist’ in scare quotes.
I think a different agenda is at work in the blogicle.
I think Rosenbaum wants the malicious impatience of “Holocaust-obsessed” to taint any criticism of Israeli policy, or of the Israeli Right’s ability to align America’s interests with that faction’s understanding of Israel’s.
I don’t think Rosenbaum tries hard to cherrypick associations to “Holocaust-obsessed”, either.
Do you know the writing (or televised punditry) of Peter Beinart, whose book The Crisis in Zionism Rosenbaum refers to in approving–“astute”–a hostile review it attracted?
Beinart is what neo-cons call a ‘self-hating Jew’.
In my view, Beinart is not a self-hating Jew, nor a self-hating anything.
Beinart is a critic of settlement Israel, and I think that, in attacking the ugly phrase ‘Holocaust-obsessed’, this perspective is Rosenbaum’s real target.
I think Rosenbaum wants the “catastrophe” he “see[s] coming”–if it does come–to be seen as Beinart’s fault.
I think Rosenbaum wants the “catastrophe” he “see[s] coming” to be understood as having nothing to do with “the exterminationist threats” being experienced right now by people whose ancestors not 100 years ago lived in today’s “downtown Tel Aviv”.
Rosenbaum’s emphasis on the depravity of dismissing the Shoah seems to me to be an indulgence in ‘Nakba inconsequentialism’.
indulge interest in postmodernity, shrug (punctuated by smirk), converse, respectively
It is not anti-Semitic to point out what one finds to be inconsistencies and imbalances in America’s general and/or official views of the world.
It is not anti-Semitic to point out what one finds to be inconsistencies and imbalances in America’s general and/or official views of the world in corrosive or inflammatory terms.
It is not anti-Semitic to wonder in corrosive or inflammatory language about the causes of inconsistencies and imbalances in America’s general and/or official views of the world.
Some of the attention Oelbaum gets here has not to do with his “anti-Semitism”, but rather, is chastisement for his… seeking attention. It is not anti-Semitic to delight in irony.
In what sense is Johannes saying ‘don’t criticize people whose opinions upset you’??
Trolling, as I understand things, is ‘saying things at a distance exclusively to excite distress’. (Your sense that trolling could be for the purpose of exciting enlightenment through distress seems to me oxymoronic: ‘there are ‘trolls’ who want to use distress to create critical awareness.’ I think that’s not trolling–that is, that calling that ‘trolling’ is to say unlike things are alike. For example, A Modest Proposal is, in my view, not trolling. If you think it is, what term do you suggest to discriminate Swift from someone who insults personally on the internet from NO argumentative position?)
He points out–in the blogicle and comments–that (and how, a bit) calling someone a ‘troll’ is disciplinary: a silencing tactic.
The reason people do this, Jöhannes suggests, is to avoid interacting with “opinions [that] upset [them]” (or to avoid defending their own points of view).
I think he’s saying that, regardless of actual trolls–who aren’t advancing topical points of view–, calling someone who is standing for some topical perspective–as I think Oelbaum does–a ‘troll’ is, precisely, telling that person not to voice their “upsetting” opinion.
?
Not sure why HTML Giant allows people to write that are basically just trolling to get traffic to their own blogs..
Yeah, I’m pretty sick of “_____ is the new”-statements. (I won’t be writing a blogicle about it, though.) I first remember hearing them made about how “____ is the new black,” and now ostensibly serious writers use this throwaway fashion phrase to lazily piggyback their ideas onto buzzwords.
The article contained some interesting facts, but they didn’t support his subtitled “thesis.” They were just there: informative, but not compelling in context.
I don’t know Beinart.
The latest “If you’re critical of Israel, you’re basically an enemy”-point I heard was someone on the radio news saying that not supporting Israel’s particular military strategies means you’re against the free practice of religion; like we have in the Bill of Rights—yes—the Bill of Rights in the Constitution of the USA. I’ve never read the Israeli constitution, and I was forced to wonder if the woman talking had. Maybe she had, and maybe they have it, and maybe it’s not an outright absurd thing to say, but it sure felt that way when I heard it.
‘I’m sick of “X is the new Y” assertions’ is the new ‘I’m sick of Z’.
Maybe Oelbaum’s act is uglier than it seems to me–that’s sure what people are excited to say. I read Baby Adolf and dressing up Anne Frank and I think, ew. I appreciate sophomoric humor and the use of offense to startle enlighteningly; Oelbaum doesn’t benefit by comparison to Aristophanes and Swift, but that’s the–I think, easily recognizable–genre: harsh satire.
There’s plenty of real anti-Semitism in the US–and in perhaps-unexpected places: some of Likud’s strongest allies in America are evangelical rwnjs who think that, pre-Rapture, the Jews of Israel will convert to Christianity – or, you know, what happens to Jewish people who don’t see the light. There are millions of these people, many are motivated voters, and they’re, almost unbelievably, Israel’s ‘friends’, from, say, Nixonyahoo’s point of view. (As I remember, it was Sharon who warned that some American conservatives are not the philosemites Israeli conservatives might think they are.)
But–to me, anyway–seeing how much traction Don gets with the unsubstantiated term ‘anti-Semite’ is unsettling.
“Anti-Semite” is the new “teenager.” So then, what do we call real anti-Semites? This is the problem, one with which we need professional cultural critics willing to contend, ideally in forums and venues their targets shall never enter.
And, sure, I’d bet some of the Moral-Majority-hangover, pro-[there being a state of]-Israel guys were only in it for the end-times.
“lol @ the concept of a unified ‘white race'” – Eastern Europe
lol @ “white race”
Thanks, Don!
[…] my comments on Seth’s last post (here, here, & here). I stated my concern that I’d said all I had to say about his writing […]
At this point, HTMLgiant is one japanese tentacle porn post away from being a slightly stupider 4chan
SEEMS LIKE YOU CAN’T BE A VERY INTERESTING PERSON IF YOU THINK BEING A WRITER IS A LICENSE TO ACT HOWEVER YOU WANT
ZZZZIPP HADN’T EVEN READ TAO LIN REALLY AT THAT POINT BUT HE HAPPENED TO BE READING HIS BLOG THE DAY HTMLG LAUNCHED
CONSIDERING ZZZIPP JUST TOLD THAT GUY HTMLG ISN’T ABOUT TAO LIN PROBABLY THAT IS THE MORE IRONIC SCENARIO
MIMI ZZZIPP AGREES WITH EMMA BINDER BELOW
It’s funny how you make these sorts of points about me on Seth Oelbaum comment threads. “Licence to act however you want”–I’m not even sure what this means in this context, nor do I see what I’ve posted on this thread that has offended you so deeply, especially considering the original post.
mimi used to read tao lin’s blog too some times
she liked when tao would reply: [@so-n-so] “damn/sweet” to comments
[did i use enuf punctuation there?]
& thanx, zipperoo, re: “EMMA BINDER BELOW”
luv on ya, baby
oops, i mean ‘photon’