Commenter Archive

Comments by Helen Rittelmeyer*

On “are you kidding me?

"I don't hate Palin because she's low-rent, I hate her because she's genuinely stupid."

This is the whole point, the reason why class is an important idea to wrap your head around in the first place! It's hard for you to know if the above sentence is true, i.e. if you hate Palin for good reasons or for class-based ones.

There are certain low-class behaviors that say "moron" to me (i.e. basketball metaphors), but _maybe they wouldn't if I spoke that language_. Does "I can see Russia from my house" sound dumb? To you, I guess. Does Alaska's proximity to Russia matter? Yeah -- but her answer wasn't phrased in a way that sounded "smart" to you.

If you take nothing else out of anti-Palin hysteria, take this: We should all be a little more skeptical about our supposedly rational judgments of other people's intelligence, because they might be more influenced by class prejudice than we realize.

"

What Greginak and Moff have said, basically: "There is no such thing as regional culture."

Is that an unfair way to nutshell your argument against "broad generalizations?"

If that is in fact your argment, isn't it kind of dumb? Of course there's such a thing as Southern culture, or New England culture, or St. Louis culture! Each one can accommodate both liberalism and conservatism, but certainly each one leans in one direction or another.

"

So-called "east coast" regional antagonism sounds like "We're better than they are!"

So-called "redneck" regional antagonism sounds like "They think they're better than us!"

It may not be an important distinction, but there it is.

(Who remembers this line from Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60? "Your side hates my side because you think we think you're stupid. My side hates your side because we think you're stupid.")

"

Do you really believe that Palin's supporters hate the "east coast types" more than the east coast types hate them? This resentment runs both ways.

And don't give the Conor Friedersdorf response: "Sure, the elites hate the rubes, but the elite's contempt is okay because they have good reasons!"

"

Sure, but what about getting a job, which is largely a matter of who you know, who you are in a position to meet, and what impression you make? (i.e. Do prospective employers and contacts think you're "one of them?") That's pretty important.

Or, for another example, what about the national political dialogue? If some points of view are written off because they come from supposedly ignorant and narrow sources, that's going to have some effect on policy, right? (As long as "Can I spin this in the press?" is a question politicians ask themselves, it will be.)

Yes, at any given moment someone either has money or he doesn't, but people get money from jobs, which are determined (at least to a meaningful extent) by cultural cues.

"

Sometimes you can tell from the way a man talks about poverty that he's never met a real, live poor person in his life.

In this post, Freddie, you sound like the opposite -- someone who has never met a real, live member of the upper class.

At least, that's the only excuse I can think of for believing the ridiculous notion that cultural cues don't have important and material consequences.

On “A Top Ten List!

Who says you can't have both?

On “not everyone who says he’s your friend is your friend

What’re the right wing dolts going to do once Mr. Ordinary USA is a bilingual, second generation Hispanic-American living in some urban ethnic enclave? That is, when Joe the Plumber is overtaken by Jose the Gardener?

Huckabee and Palin both fell victim to the fallacy that hicks can only ever appeal to other hicks. I'm an Ivy League punk, yet I reject neither of them out of hand.

(Which is not to say that I'm a thorough fan of either.)

The New England blue-blood demographic is shrinking, too, yet the Bush family won three presidential elections.

"

Nope, Freddie, Robert Stacy McCain came by my respect honestly. He's the kind of smart you get by being a real reader who reads a lot, which, to someone who just spent four years at an Ivy League school, is refreshing.

A few of the reasons why he's on my RSS feed can be found here, here, and the update here. I appreciate his quote here especially: "I shudder to think what idiocy I might have wrought if I'd been catapulted into the midst of Washington policy disputes in my 20s." Would that everyone regarded my age bracket with such charity!

Heck, RSM says nice things about Poulos. How anti-intellectual can he be?

I already regret stepping into a fight where I have such affection for all the actors, but, Freddie, if you're worried that our rational democratic discourse will be polluted by a hot-blooded, brawling, gonzo spirit, just remember: that's what they said about the Irish.

P.S. "How could Helen be opposed to 'ivy league scribblers and feminism'" was a joke, right?

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