Ed Brayton's moronic position on abortion and misogyny

Ed Brayton gives us the retarded assertion that abortion and misogyny are unrelated:

It is possible to hold a sincere and principled belief that abortion is wrong without hating women.

This is a completely moronic assertion on two counts.

First of all, read as a generality, the connection between misogyny and abortion proponents opponents is obviously true. The vast majority of abortion opponents really do consider women to be at best second-class citizens and at worst nothing more than walking uteri in whom sapient intelligence is probably a big mistake. To object to a generality because there are some edge cases that do not fit undermines our ability to reason with generalizations. Not everyone, for example, convicted of a crime actually perpetrated it, but we still put people in prison when they lose their trial.

But even read as a universal it's still true. To be against abortion, you have to believe that the rights of a non-sentient collection of cells are more important than a thinking, feeling woman's rights. You must believe that a woman is less important than a blastocyst. I simply cannot imagine how anyone could hold this opinion and not hold women in general contempt.

(via DBB)

Update: Yes, women can be misogynist (and men can misandrous, and human beings can be misanthropes). Ann Coulter. Case closed.

Today's reading

The Rude Pundit thinks Hillary Clinton is too vulnerable to right-wing propaganda. I think he's mistaken; as Orcinus reports, Obama is just as vulnerable. (David Brin makes the same mistake.)

James has a funny picture.

Himself reports on Christian "Zionism" (supporting Israel for its part it will play in the Christian Armageddon) and raises suspicions about four internet cable outages in the Middle East: Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, thrice is conspiracy.

Kelly takes Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to task.

Chuck gives us our Tuesday dose of weirdness including Female Muslim doctors who refuse to wash their hands past their wrists.

PZ justifies calling ignorant liars "ignorant"; respect for your opponent is an effective debating tactic only if your opponent is arguing in good faith, which Christians in general rarely do, and cretinists never do.

See the next thrilling episode of God Man and Human Man at Tom the Dancing Bug.

The latest Carnival of the Godless is up. Your humble blogger is, sadly, not represented.

Read DagoodS on why God wants exactly what you want.

Uncle Ghastly is the source for today's motto on the header.

The Political Crank denounces our drug-like addiction to easy credit. The rich are tied at the ankle to the middle class, who are tied to the working class, who are tied to the welfare class. Throw one of them over the side of the boat, and the rest will soon follow.

The Sacred Slut mourns her friend; atheist and philosophical blogger Infidelus Maximus has died.

If you're frustrated at work Micah Cowan has the video for you.

PhysioProf has kind words to say about Atrios, if by "kind words" you mean stopping short of calling Atrios a self-important scrotum-licking slacker. Oh wait, he doesn't stop short. (Personally, I found both Atrios and Kos completely unreadable long before they turned out to be assholes.)

Obama vs Clinton

The Rude Pundit writes about why he prefers Clinton to Obama: Besides the substantive issues,

The Rude Pundit still believes the rotting corpse of a skunk could beat John McCain in the general election, but if anyone could lose it for the Democrats, it'd be Hillary Clinton. Because, despite what Ann Coulter says about conservatives running from McCain, somewhere in some cellar in some Little Rock or DC mansion, there's a machine that's been whirring its gears on low for the last seven years that's getting greased up and ready to kick into full speed once more, and it's aching to chew up Clinton, ready to get sticky with her blood and bones, for once it's really chugging, that fucker needs to be fed, ready to spew once again to willing, slavering media dogs who lap up that anti-Clinton vomit like it's kibble from Walter Cronkite's ass.

The thing is that, if it's Clinton vs. McCain, the press is gonna be fellating McCain with all the suction force of a Hoover on deep pile because of his come-from-behind victory, because he has been fondling their balls in the back of the Straight Talk Express since 2000. Because everyone is a product of their learned behavior, and if the Clintons react to the Obama speed train like it's run by Richard Mellon Scaife because that's what they know, the media will turn on Hillary Clinton even more so, because that's what they know.

I can't fault the Rude One too much for his opinion, but I think it's incorrect.

The press is "gonna be fellating McCain with all the suction force of a Hoover on deep pile," no matter who wins the Democratic nomination. Yes, the press has been going after Clinton for years, so many of the negatives are already in place. But the press will have plenty of time to destroy Obama, just as they destroyed Al Gore and John Kerry, neither of whom are Hillary Clinton.

I'm not going to vote for either one in the primaries. If conditions were as they were in 2000, either one would make a fine President, but after eight years of Bush, neither have the will or the ability to make the kind of substantive changes I think the country needs. Still, there are good reasons, substantive reasons to prefer one candidate over the other.

But if you pick a candidate based on how unfairly you think the media will bullshit and lie about one candidate over another, you yourself are buying into the premise that the media's bullshit and lies should control elections. And once you buy into that premise — especially if you buy in consciously and deliberately — you are just as surely enslaving your vote to the corporate media as if you were a brain-dead Fox News viewer.

Evolved and Rational

Evolved thinks I would like his blog Evolved and Rational. So I took a gander, and right on top I see this:

Creationists are not only deluded dumbfucks who want to see the death of modern science and drag the world back into the Dark Ages (where scientists could conveniently be burnt at the stake). They are also cunning liars who are all out to fleece their flock in the name of an imaginary god.

I like it. I like it a lot. Welcome to the blogroll!

Mad props to a big blogger

PZ Myers of Pharyngula is a smart guy and blogtopian! Right on PZ! He's usually not explicitly political, but his progressive values are obvious.

PZ is a must-read for any progressive, if for nothing else than his vigorous and uncompromising support for scientific knowledge. So much of anti-progressive politics depends on lies, bullshit, and most of all, religious faith. PZ is a consistent anodyne for such faith-based bullshit.

Big blogs you should read — and a challenge

There are some truly progressive blogs out there that do stellar work, blogs I think every progressive should read.

I'd also like to challenge these bloggers to step up to a leadership role. It's important to generate strong progressive content, but content alone is not enough. We have to build a community, and you can't be a leader of a community by holding yourself apart and aloof from the ordinary people in that community.

In the spirit of Blogroll Amnesty Day I'd like to challenge these Bloggers at the very least open up their blogrolls to smaller progressive bloggers. At best I challenge them to actually read some of these smaller blogs, and actually link to content they find interesting and edifying.

We can't just tell the truth. We can't just demand common sense and ordinary human decency from our politicians, business leaders and journalists. We have to build a community, a movement of people who will stand up and shout that "we're mad as hell, and we're not going to take it any more". And stand up and shout over and over again; in extremis to make the nation ungovernable if our rights are not protected by our institutions.

And to do that, when the ordinary people do stand up and shout, the most respected bloggers among us have to answer. they have to say, "I hear you! Right on! Keep it up."

Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of Americans have participated in protests against the Iraq war. These protests have been ignored, dismissed, minimized and mocked in the commercial media, and hence their power has been almost completely undermined. Let's not waste the power of numbers in the progressive blogosphere.

It's not necessary to create an entirely open blogtopia (yes, skippy coined the phrase) a la skippy, Jon Swift, etc. But yes, it'll take work: The top progressive bloggers will not only have to work at discovering and describing issues, but also reading the lesser blogs to provide encouragement, support and community building. Writing about the issues is important, but I submit that this community-building work will be even more effective at actually implementing progressive politics, and it's absolutely necessary.

I'm doing my bit: I've started The Progressive Blogroll to collect the progressive bloggers.

The Rude Pundit has a wonderfully filthy mouth and an even dirtier mind, and is solidly progressive day in and day out. He tells us why Bill O'Reilly ought to be sodomized with a microphone, why Michelle Malkin Ought to Be Caged Like a Rabid Shihtzu, why Ann Coulter is a cunt (and all the ways The Rude Pundit wouldn't fuck her), the Rude One is the blogger for you.

Unfortunately, The Rude Pundit lists only a handful of blogs (mostly "A-List" mainstream blogs) in his sidebar and rarely mentions others in his posts. Fuck you, Rude One: Do you want our support? Then support us.

Orcinus is also reliably progressive, and Dave Neiwert has been right out front in his demolition of Jonah Goldberg's steaming pile of excrement book Liberal Fascism. Their exposure of Ron Paul's racist roots is second to none, and they've been consistently right about Christian Dominionism. Their blogroll is better than the Rude Pundit's, reaching down into the B-list, but they could do more to dig down and encourage the hoi polloi.

Dennis Perrin rants well about the current rotten state of this country, but he doesn't even have a blogroll [D'oh!] has a rather short blogroll. Come on, Dennis: You complain that no one is listening, but are you listening to the chorus of people who actually agree with you?

Jon Swift and skippy can't carry the whole burden for the top progressive bloggers.

Update: The Rude Pundit steps up! Mad props! Keep up the good work!

The Progressive Blogroll

In honor of Blogroll Amnesty Day, and to put my own time and effort into the cause of building a community of progressive bloggers, I'm starting The Progressive Blogroll.

[Update: This was not a particularly successful idea, mostly because I didn't follow up on it. I don't have time to promote and maintain it. If anyone wants to take it over, email me.]

To get on the progressive blogroll, you must actually display the blogroll. Put one of these links in your sidebar:

Javascript:
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript" src="http://rpc.blogrolling.com/display.php?r=85f2b6f5839823526ea0478608e4b8f6"> </script>

RSS:
http://rpc.blogrolling.com/rss.php?r=85f2b6f5839823526ea0478608e4b8f6

OPML:
http://rpc.blogrolling.com/opml.php?r=85f2b6f5839823526ea0478608e4b8f6

PHP:
http://rpc.blogrolling.com/display_raw.php?r=85f2b6f5839823526ea0478608e4b8f6

Second, you have to support "progressive" politics, rather loosely defined: You should support the civil rights (especially privacy rights) of individuals, economic populism, separation of church and state, and anti-imperialism. You don't have to be a communist, atheist or Quaker pacifist, but if you think the government should have unlimited, unsupervised wiretapping powers, if you're on the board of Wal-Mart, if don't see any problem with Rupert Murdoch owning our entire media infrastructure, or if you think the war in Iraq is just peachy and you're hoping Iran is next, you're probably not a good fit.

Third, you should actually write about progressive politics from time to time: serious investigative journalism, registering your outrage at egregious bullshit, philosophical and political theoretics, or even just links to other progressive posts you've enjoyed.

To get on the blogroll, email me at lrhamelin@gmail.com. Put "Progressive Blogroll" in the subject line and put the name and URL of your blog in the body.

Falling for propaganda

So last night I went to a party, a really great party. The guests were, to a person, smart, well-educated, erudite liberals, and I have fairly high standards. (Yes, I'm an intellectual snob. Sue me.)

But something bugged me. Bugged me hard. Almost all of them will be voting for Obama in the primaries. Nothing wrong with that, per se; Obama is, all things considered, a decent centrist candidate. He's not going to actually fix anything substantial; he's not at any kind of progressive (not even a tepid Edwards-style progressive), but Clinton has the same problem.

What bugged me is why they're voting for Obama. Is his position on universal health care better than Clinton's? Are they punishing Clinton for voting for the Iraq war in 2002? Obama will better restore civil rights and privacy? Has better ideas for the economy? No.

What I heard was a chorus of "Clinton is 'ambitious' and 'phony'."

And I call bullshit.

The charge that Clinton is too "ambitious" is obviously, patently misogynist. It would be ludicrous to charge a man with being too ambitious.

And, in case anyone hasn't noticed, both Obama and Clinton are politicians. They're running for President of the United States. Ambition and insincerity are professional requirements. Few who are sincere and unambitious manage to get elected to the school board, much less President of the United States.

I mean, come on. Obama (so I'm told) speaks with great sincerity, but he speaks without substance, in meaningless generalities. If that's not phoniness, I don't know what is. I don't really fault him for speaking in generalities; anything specific (especially at this point) will get him nothing but trouble. But still.

As Bob Somerby has been pointing out for years, the whole "sincerity and authenticity" narrative is nothing less than pure propagandistic bullshit. Swallow bullshit once and you'll swallow it again: In the general election, the media will portray McCain or Romney (or, God help us, Huckabee) as the "authentic" candidate and Obama as "inauthentic". And half the people who swallowed the "Clinton is phony" bullshit in the primaries will swallow the "Obama is phony" bullshit in the general.

Worse yet, we Democrats are inflicting this bullshit on ourselves. The Republicans want Clinton to win the nomination: It's a hell of a lot easier to be openly misogynist than it is to be racist, and there's a deep well of disgust in the ignorant middle for just the name "Clinton".

If the smart people are still falling for this sort of bullshit propaganda, I just don't see how we have any chance to avoid falling into chaos, civil war and revolution.

Progressive politics

Many years ago, when I was just a lad, the President of the United States (Nixon) and his minions broke the law, compromised the electoral process, and lied to Congress and the American people to cover up their crimes. The President resigned in disgrace — at the demand of his own party — and no small few of his minions ended up in prison. This is how things should go.

A few years later, the President (Reagan) and his minions broke the law, actually committed treason, and lied to Congress and the American people to cover their crimes. The President escaped accountability, and, while a few of his minions were indicted and some convicted, all escaped punishment by appeal and pardon. This is not how things should go.

A few years later, the President (Bush fils) and his minions broke the law, shredded the Constitution, made a mockery of the electoral process, lied as consistently and egregiously as a cretinist propagandist with a word-processor and perpetrated acts recognized as crimes against humanity (torture and aggressive warfare). Worse yet, every institution charged with moderating the excesses of tyrannical authority — the opposition political party, the "free" press, the judiciary — actively abetted his crimes and lies. (Passive refusal to take reasonable steps to expose and confront wrongdoing is recognized morally and legally as aiding and abetting.) No one will even be indicted, much less be forced to account for their crimes. This is the complete opposite of how things should go.

The upcoming election will not change anything. Senators Clinton, Obama and Edwards all voted to engage in or fund the illegal war in Iraq and have either complied with or failed to vigorously oppose Bush's manifestly illegal and immoral actions. They're part of the problem, and their in up to their eyeballs.

If you let someone get away with something once, they'll do it again. This principle is an obvious and ubiquitous truth of human psychology. We've let the bastards do it to us twice with little or no consequences, so we can be rationally convinced they will do it again. Hence, I foresee a weak and constantly badgered and assaulted Democratic government for 2-4 years. We'll have a Republican congress in 2010 and a Republican president in 2012. And the 2012 government will be worse than the Bush administration.

It's already the case that a Christian Theocrat, an authoritarian criminal and a racist nutjob are legitimate contenders for the Republican nomination. Nobody looks good with George W. Bush still hanging around, but in four years, when our "free" press has convinced everyone that the Democratic President and Congress are responsible for our economic depression, our continuing failure in Iraq, our declining international prestige and of failing to adequately protect the American people from extremist Islamic terrorism, a return to religious fundamentalism and authoritarianism will look a lot better.

I don't think the United States will follow Russia's pattern: The collapse of a totalitarian government into pure criminal anarchy followed by a return to totalitarianism. The people of any democracy are the last line of defense, and I think the American people will win out in the end. It's one thing to take off your shoes and throw out your shampoo to get on an airplane, but when people start "disappearing", when the concentration camps start filling up, I think (I hope!) the American people will resist.

But it's still true that the people are indeed the last line of defense. Conditions have to get really bad — South and Central America bad, South Africa bad — before the people will choose leaders who actually resist. We have already missed our last chance to nip totalitarianism in the bud by institutional means. (We might have missed the last chance when our institutions refused to vigorously prosecute Reagan and his minions.)

The progressive blogosphere might be one important tool in the last line of resistance. It is only the "lesser" blogs that are howling with the outrage that stands a chance of ever reversing the dismantling of our democracy and the undermining of the moral foundations of our civilization.

The "mainstream" bloggers have made themselves irrelevant to this effort; if they persist at all, they'll be completely co-opted by the totalitarians. They've descended into tactical considerations of how a few not completely batshit insane people can prosper in a batshit insane totalitarian system. It is futile to try to work within a system that is unable to prosecute and punish egregious violations of the Constitution, treason and crimes against humanity. The system is in the midst of catastrophic failure, and we now need to change the system. Systemic changes always incur a heavy cost in suffering and death.

The Democratic party could have saved us. The liberal free press — even excluding Murdoch's authoritarian propaganda — could have saved us. The liberal billionaires — Gates, Turner, Soros, etc. — could have saved us. A little courage, a little forethought, a little common sense among those who have justified their power on the basis of their exceptional abilities could have saved us. They failed to live up to the responsibilities concomitant with power. Oh well. The smart ones will get the hell out of Dodge; the dumb ones will stay and suffer along with the rest of us.

I think Blogroll Amnesty Day is really important. It's not just about getting a bunch of Z-list bloggers a little more traffic. Progressive bloggers are building an infrastructure that may well form the nucleus for the coming struggle against totalitarianism, and we may well determine what the success of that struggle will entail. (Just as the 18th century colonial liberal intelligentsia built the Constitution; without them we would have had become just another European-style kingdom.)

I hope I'm wrong. I want to be wrong. If I were religious I would pray that I'm wrong. If the Democratic government we elect in 2008 really turns things around, I'll jump for joy. I'm too soft, too sentimental. I don't yearn to be part of world-historical events; I want to live out my life in quiet obscurity, adding my minuscule contribution to esoteric philosophical issues. If the progressive blogosphere becomes just a little voice in a functioning liberal democracy, there's nothing lost.

But I don't think I'm wrong. The Republicans know what works. They know they can do most anything without institutional punishment. They want nothing more than personal authoritarian power for its own sake. Like the villain in a cheap B movie, they'll escape the disaster of this failed plan only to come back stronger than ever in the sequel. They're evil, not stupid, and they learn from their mistakes. Bush Cheney failed to establish a totalitarian regime only because he hesitated; our next authoritarian will not be so weak.

Blogroll Amnesty Weekend

Yes, it's officially the Blogroll Amnesty Weekend, leading up to Blogroll Amnesty Day, February 3rd, in remembrance of the great blogroll bloodbath.

You're supposed to link to "lesser" blogs, but as The Barefoot Bum is... er... not the most trafficked or linked-to blog in the blogosphere, I'll just have to link to blogs I like.

Today, since I have limited time, I'll link to some good philosophy blogs, most by published authors, professors or students. Amazingly enough, they're mostly atheists and all liberal/progressive/lefty types. Progressive politics needs philosophy and theoretics as much as it needs strategy and tactics.

Stephen Law, the Editor of The Royal Institute of Philosophy Magazine, Think.

Philosophers' Playground, by Steve Gimbel, professor at Gettysburg College and editor of The Grateful Dead and Philosophy.

Virtual Philosopher, home of Nigel Warburton, author of about a dozen books on philosophy.

Butterflies and Wheels, run by Ophelia Benson and Jeremy Stangroom.

Various students: The Web of Belief (Daniel Dennett sometimes posts there), The Uncredible Hallq, goldbricker, Geoff Arnold and Thalesian Fools.

Check out the links on these blogs for a plethora of good (and perhaps some not-so-good) philosophy blogs and resources.

(Again, I'm in a rush and forgetful of details; if I've forgotten you, let me know and twenty lashes with a wet noodle to me with a correction.)