Daily Kos off the CliffAt this blog, I often talk about how advertising can warp things because of its insidious influence on editorial content. One of the main straightjackets afflicting the transmission of information and analysis of what is happening stems directly from using advertising as a medium for making money writing.

Recently, at Daily Kos, there was a bad breakdown over the issue of jarring, in bad taste, ads. Instead of examining his use of ads and trying to control the ad's influence on him, the person who uses the name "Kos" (note that I use my real name on line, a proud practice I have followed for years) became flustered because some of the women who read his site were offended by a juvenile, stupid ad for a MSM TV show. He decided to attack women at his own site...

My own take on all of this stuff.

Man, they never ever learn, do they?

I don't know that KOS was "flustered." There are those who seem to think that "you've hurt my feelings" should lead to abject panic. KOS didn't demonstrate the necessary self-flagellation, I guess.

So now, everything else he's ever done is forgotten. That's nice.

Feel free to be offended. Feel free to claim that I'm somehow abandoning “progressive principles” by running the ad. It's a free country. Feel free to storm off in a huff. Other deserving bloggers could use the patronage.

Me, I'll focus on the important shit.

Being offended by such an ad doesn't strike me as important. Neither does the inane linking of the ad and progressive principles. Huffs? Also not important in the abstract. Carried to an extreme, of course, they can be very counter productive.

Yes, other bloggers could use the patronage.

So, after these last few years, is anyone truly unclear on what it is that KOS considers to be the "important shit"? Or is it just easier to throw all that down the shitter in a snit?

Sorry. Rhetorical question. I hate it when I do that.
.

a google ad for the right-wing smear book "their lives" comes up on one of your pages, you know.

i'm not so sure about google ads (i almost removed you from bloglines before i remembered that you're not evil).

But, but, we are EEE-vEHl. We're just the good kind of ee-vehl.

Who is this "Kos", and why does anyone give a shit about anything he says?

I don't know about this business of being offended as much as being disgusted by grown men who haven't outgrown the 16-year-old's sense of humor and appeal.

But you have to speak to people in the language they understand, so...

Dear decidedly UN-pc blog geeks who have more "important shit" to worry about than growing the hell up:

You're lame.

Love,
The Real Adult World

OK, it seems that the rather perjorative label "the sanctimonious women's studies set" is what caused this meltdown.

I understand thet no one cheers up when they are dissmissed as part of any sort of "sanctimonious set".

I do not unserstand what "women's studies " are supposed to be.

Can anyone here tell me what the focus of these studies is supposed to be? I mean if someone has a degree in English Literature, chances are they they studied English Literature. What do these people study? Does this faculty discriminate on the basis of sex (do they allow men)? I really don't know.

Cheers,

Naked Ape

Dear Naked Ape,
My suggestion would be to check out the posts on Stregoneria (above) about gender. Women's Studies, for the most part, concerns itself with power distribution in cultures, specifically how gender operates as a structural system for determining who has power and who doesn't. As a consequence, it's one of many interdisciplinary fields in academia--incorporating philosophy, history, sociology, anthropology, biology, etc. If you want to do some elementary reading in the topic, I'd suggest works by Joan Scott as a good place to start. Gender and the Politics of History is the book where I'd begin.

By the way, it wasn't just Kos's reaction; once the floodgates were open, certain men on DailyKos went on a shit rampage where they called women hideous names and told women that we were a "special interest." It's amazing to live in a world where man equals human but woman equals special interest.

Lorraine,

Thanks for the info. I had always assumed that Women's Studies was a sort of post-modern arts degree, and your short description seems to confirm that. I will look for that book at the library.

Perhaps the men suggesting that men are not a special interest group while women are, were special olympians?

Cheers,

Naked Ape

If I may interject, from a somewhat conservative point of view:

Why do women, especially educated and capable women, permit dismissive and belittling actions from "champions" of their cause?

Case in point: Bill and Hillary. Though it may seem odd, I found Hillary's "Stand by your man" move to be the most hypocritical and damaging move to women's rights and dignity that I have observed since coming of voting age. She should have left him; staying tells young women that it is OK to stay with a philanderer as long as he has power and money.

Counterpoint to the argument in return: I am a US military service member and have served proudly and often in the company, under command, and in charge of professional female soldiers. I treated them no differently than the men in my unit; the tree suit is the great equalizer.

My wife is an independent thinker and disagrees with me often; she is far more to the left than I. It seems strange to her friends on the further left that she fears not that I would wander astray - all of them keep an eye on their "feminist supporting" husbands, fearing that their men are merely miming words to chase skirts.

In my line of work I care not if the individual likes boys, girls, sheep, or inanimate objects; nor is it important what plumbing with which they are equipped by nature. I care only that they may think, process, and communicate ideas, concepts, and summations of information. I propose that I am more a feminist than many who proclaim to adhere to the movement; I expect excellence from all.

Oh, I guess I do discriminate: I hate stupid people that refuse to remedy their ignorance. If one examines the facts and come to a different conclusion I will respect that conclusion. If one dismisses facts to adhere to a broken hypothesis, then that one deserves the derision.

Thanks for listening to my two cents worth.
Dave

Why is the pie fight ad here on this website? Who does that serve?

I didn't want to see that crap when I came here today and it makes me not want to come here again.

Sioban,

BECAUSE IT WAS NOT ABOUT THE AD!

This isssue was about how Markos dismissed the complaints of some members of his site as "women studies" stuff that had nothing to do with the "important shit" his site is focused on.

I don't have a problem at all with the ad. I looked at it and said, "yeah, whatever". I do have a sense of humor about these things.

Do I believe that this ad is instrinsically related to the mentality that would lead to the exploitation of women?

Nope. I do not.

Dave,

My brother served in the Army for ... I want to say 15 years but it may have been more. He was in the Persian Gulf War and, such as you, he had a similar experience about men and women personnel.

It seems to be different now than it was back in the 90's. That the level of education was higher than it is today. And that the top-brass and their attitude towards that personnel is very different from what it is today.

I always say about my husband and me that if we were homosexuals, he'd be a lesbian and I'd be gay. We are not "extremes" in the charts of masculinity or feminity. We're somewhere on middle ground --and I find that I get better with people who are the same.

And we both discriminate as well : We don't suffer fools. It's enough with me already :)

The phrase "women's studies set" is shorthand for feminists. The current thinking by the frat boy Democrats is that the feminists need to climb in the closet for the next two years so that the party can pretend to be just the like the Republicans. It's a ridiculous strategy, we're not climbing in any closet, the party won't win anything without us, and Kos and his minions are simply uncomfortable around women who don't act like Paris Hilton or those hot babes in the pie ad.

Kos has pissed of a critical mass of smart, experienced, political operatives with big checkbooks. But he doesn't really care because his groupies love him and he knows what's really best for the party - throwing the feminists and their stupid issues overboard.

What a schmuck.