A woman pilot from the UAE led air strikes against ISIS. Brains were conflicted at Fox News. On the one hand, dropping bombs always makes them happy, but on the other, they’d rather good ol’ Merkins were dropping them. On the third hand, it was a chance to sneer at those regressive Mooslems who don’t let women even drive, but on the fourth hand, a woman was actually qualified to fly a powerful piece of high tech machinery.
What to do? This is why they staff their opinion shows with morons, so a man can step in and fling sexist shit.
Kimberly Guilfoyle took a moment to salute Major Mariam Al Mansouri, who reportedly led her country’s airstrikes Monday against the Islamic State. Guilfoyle noted how rich it was that an Arab woman was leading the charge against the militant group, given that women aren’t even allowed to drive in some countries in the region.
The problem is after she bombed it she couldn’t park it,co-host Greg Gutfield quipped.I salute her.
Would that be considered boobs on the ground or no?Eric Bolling chimed in.
Why, yes, I would love to have my jingo served up with a slimy side of sexism, thank you very much!
Define Merkin. :-)
There is a stray quote or something
Fixed.
I liked it better when it was still uncertain what the rest of your OP contained …
Eric Bolling: Asshat on the ground.
Huh no: they staff their opinion shows with actors who play the fool because Ailes previous attempt at building a right-wing propaganda machine failed after he had tried to hire only conservative journalists only to discover in horror that their professional ethics superseded their tribal affiliation.
*sets facepalming on automatic*
As Wonkette points out, Al Mansouri is up in the air. Bolling & Gutfield are the boobs on the ground.
Is it even worth saying that women in the Emirates are indeed allowed to drive?
Did she have a pink flight suit? Was she wearing make-up? A little lipstick and some rouge, maybe? And was she wearing high heels or flats?
Inquiring minds want to know.
FOX News, defenders of family values and moral rectitude.
I guess I just have a different notion of what constitutes family values and moral rectitude. There’s a restaurant I go to with my kids where the conservative owner has the TVs on Fox News any time there’s not a sporting event on. I need to inform him that I find their content inappropriate for families.
Quick, to the Skepticmobile! I have to know what famed scientist and inventor of science and user of science Sam Harris thinks! Sam, is it true that women’s “estrogen vibe” prevents them from appreciating how hilarious Greg Gutfield and Eric Bolling are?
I am pleased to let you know that a merkin is a pubic wig. Kind of apt – eh ?
I don’t know what “boobs on the ground” means. But for the rest, those guys sound like sexist arsewipes. The problem with Fox News is something I encounter on certain atheist websites: One is constrained from telling them to fuck the fuck off together with the horse they rode in on. The problem with that is that the arsewipes treat one’s restraint as a form of endorsement. The fuckers!
theophontes, It’s a play on the phrase “boots on the ground”, which I understand can mean a safe landing (ie a landing one is able to walk away from), though it’s also used to refer to ground forces, like infantry.
@Anthony K:
Count me as another thoroughly familiar with the phrase “boots on the ground” yet totally missing the, ahem, ‘reference’ by Bolling. Thanks for that.
Whilst now I have some better appreciation of the rationalization for using that particular sexist line, I’m sure the play on “boots on the ground” is entirely irrelevant to the point: It’s gratuitous sexism all the way down.
re Bolling:
Is he implying that Muricans should accept her bombing run and landing on the ground as fulfilling our commitment to getting “boots on the ground” to fight ISI# ? Whateveh, his joke just flew right over my head. It took several readings to get the “boots/boobs” homophonia joke. Is that a tongue in his cheek or is he just happy to see us? Fox Noise always goes “classy” just to show us how better they are than all of us who laugh
atwith their moronic patter. They’re just demonstrating how far they have to “stoop” to reach their audience’s level. Good morning Faux Noise, don’t let the door hit your ass as you leave.I may be wrong about its use to refer to a safe landing. If not, then the connection is even weaker and it’s just a weak homophone as twas brillig (stevem) notes.
Either way, it was just a bad excuse to shoehorn some misogynistic bullshit. “Ha-ha! She can fly and fight, and here at Fox we masturbate furiously to the idea of military action, no matter how unnecessary, but this case of being a woman shall not go unpunished.”
But watch Kimberly Guilfoyle’s expression at 0:50. She’s crestfallen. She’s obviously embarrassed, and perhaps a little humiliated. “Why did you ruin my thing?” she asks, plaintively.
Her reaction is heartbreaking.
@ Anthony K
Thanks.
I think, in my ignorance, I was presuming they said something horribly sexist in an amusing way, rather than something horribly sexist and tacky.
(Yes, I know I should know better by now.)
Is this also a dig at Obama for not sending ground troops? It seems like Fox wants to send soldiers there again.
The entire panel tries to be as horrible as they can, and they succeed!
No slack to Kimberly Guilfoyle who just a few weeks ago defended “men being men” catcalling women on the street. She said that if she doesn’t get publicly demeaned then something’s wrong with her!
Somethings wrong with her, for sure.
@Anthony K:
I noticed that. I did feel for her. Empathy with her I’ve got, even if sympathy for her is a little lacking.
When is Fox News ever classy?
If you’re struggling with the “boots on ground”/ “boobs on ground”, statement, you’re over analyzing it. He saw a chance to say BOOBS and he took it.
More amusing to me was that even the juvenile moron Bob Beckel was shocked.
Many years ago I saw a documentary about a group of seven female astronauts training opposite the original Mercury 7 astronauts. They were all trained military pilots, but of course none of them were ever allowed near a space craft.
At on point a male reporter was interviewing one of them, while she was preparing a fighter jet for take off. He was asking her about……..cookie recipes.
That made me laugh, and I think that’s probably the most succinct and accurate analysis.
@18
Yea it wasn’t just sexist bullshit. It was also really disrespectful to their co-host. Assholes.
Greg Gutfield should withhold his comments until he learns how to shift his F-16 into reverse gear, and parallel park it.
@9 Alex
Maybe. That Fox News apparently doesn’t understand that the UAE and Saudi Arabia (KSA) are different countries with different laws, and that the KSA is literally the only country in the region which actually prohibits women from driving is certainly worthy of mockery.
So Myers, like every other FTB blogger appointed by the system he set up, is passive about the new bombing war on Syria and Iraq. He just wants the reporting of it to be non-sexist. Talk about limited objectives!
Since Myers and the rest of FTB are spineless before the latest American bombing policy, here’s an extract from the Stop the War Coalition. Ten reasons the UK Parliament should vote no tomorrow:-
1) The West’s last operation in Iraq ended just three years ago. For those with a short memory it didn’t go well. More than half a million people died, millions fled the country and Iraq’s infrastructure was devastated. The operation generated deep resentment against the West.
How many boobs are there on The Five? There are three boobs without boobs and two boobs with two boobs each for a grand total of nine
That’s pretty weak, even for you.
Nonetheless, thanks for that link.
You’ll get no argument from me on that front, though I’d go some further and say resentment against the West has been generated over a number of operations. Not only do we have short memories in the West, but we have a complicit media that aids the government in turning failures into successes. When every bombing retroactively becomes a win, then why not bomb every problem into submission?
This shit right here is why I’m sympathetic to the “Death to America!” side. Death to this aspect of America indeed. They’re oh-so-progressive what with their meaningless calling out of not allowing women to drive meanwhile reducing them to body parts or stereotypical inabilities. Fucking death to fucking America.
@exi5tentialist:
I appreciate your strongly anti-war stance, but
this quote of yours is just wrong. Define “operation” a lot more narrowly than the average person would assume and you can eventually get there. There have been operations going on in Iraq and Syria and all over the Middle East continuously for decades. The US government doesn’t leave Iraq (or any nation with net oil exports) alone for 3 years. We might not use many troops in Norway, but trust me, just because they aren’t announcing military action in Iraq or Saudi or Yemen doesn’t mean it’s not happening.
Christ.
I have said over and over again for at least ten years that I am categorically opposed to war. I was in marches against both Bush’s wars, I’ve hated the flinging of tomahawks against various countries in some kind of violence-short-of-being-called-war, one of my biggest complaints about Obama is his ready use of drones, and still, I get assholes like this coming along to say I’m compliant.
Anthony K said:
Yep. Not only did they ruin her pro-feminist piece, she can’t shut them down without being labelled a shrill, unfunny feminist. Classic “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” moment.
It’s moments like this that give me hope, thinking of the post-show, off-air, gloves-off diatribe that I’d like to think she gave to both those men and the show’s producers. It’s moments like this that lead to women getting a better deal, or quitting the network and making it even more ideologically pure.
But I’m an optimist. Sigh.
Exi5tentialist:
PZ has a long record of being anti-war, which I’m sure you well know. By the way, this network was set up by Ed Brayton. If you’re going to lie about a little thing like that, I don’t think anyone needs to mistake you for an honest interlocutor.
Well, PZ, when are you going to go after Mano Singham and his constant shilling for Israel?
Appointed? System? Seems a bit overwrought to describe a bunch of like minded people joining a blog network. ` I feel for Kimberly and all the women who work at Fox. Can you imagine how toxic the work atmosphere must be if shit like this actually made it on air? There’s a youtube clip somewhere of Gretchen Carlson finally getting fed up with her co-hosts, calling them assholes, and walking off set. I believe she now has her own show.
For UK citizens: Invite your MP to stand against a new bombing campaign in Iraq and Syria; I was out getting Stop the War Coalition petitions signed today. I didn’t condemn the initial airstrikes against IS troop concentrations attacking Kurdish areas in Iraq, which almost certainly saved many innocent lives, but bombing areas they already hold is bound to kill civilians, and increase local support for IS. There is non-military action the US and UK could take against IS: pressurising the Arab dictatorships that have aided them or allowed their citizens to do so (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait) and Turkey (which has allowed the sale of IS oil). There’s also, of course, an urgent need for aid to those countries to which millions of refugees have fled, notably Turkey (again), Jordan, and above all Lebanon, which is threatened with disintegration.
American and allied policy is rife with contradictions: the fighting force that has had most success against IS so far is the PKK, which consists of Turkish Kurds and is designated a terrorist group by the US and UK. The only regional grouping capable of opposing IS throughout their area of operations is the Shia alliance of Iran, Iraq and Syria: Obama wants to support the government of Iraq while opposing that of Iran and calling for the overthrow of that of Syria. Absurd claims are made that not bombing Syrian government positions last year is somehow responsible for the rise of IS when, apart from rival Islamists, Assad’s regime is the only plausible opposition to IS in Syria – the so-called “moderate Syrian opposition” has never been a coherent force.
@PZ Myers
So where has PZ Myers actually opposed the US bombing of IS in Syria and Iraq? it’s one thing to be idealistically “against war”, another to actually oppose a specific US policy in a particular place.
Where has PZ Myers or anyone other FTB blogger actually said they are opposed to this particular round of bombing against IS? FTB blogs have been utterly devoid of any such statements which is bizarre given what is at stake. If I am wrong, I apologise, but a link would be useful, because saying nothing in opposition to this latest IS war is my definition of “compliant”. I don’t think that’s a particularly “asshole” observation and I’d thank major contributors not to give the green light to an insult culture here by deploying that kind of faecal expletive against commenters.
Oh, I am sure this clown thought ‘boobs on the ground’ would be complimentary.
I mean, look how proud they are to be ‘dicks on the air’!
exi5tentialist:@41: From Mano Singham: War is good business. Admittedly there’s no quote such as “I oppose the current bombing of Iraq and Syria”, but it’s quite clear he does, and attributes the bombing to “defence”* industry interests.
*My scare-quotes.
…I had no idea. The media reports I’ve seen only say “Peshmerga”, implying the private armies of the Talabani and Barzani clans from Iraq rather than the Stalinist PKK from Turkey.
Well, another monumental war of evil against evil against evil.
Don’t you overestimate the power of words just a little? Is it really “support” to buy a bumper sticker?
exi5tentialist
“I am against all forms of capital punishment in all circumstances”
“Sure, but did you know that someone was executed in Texas just a week ago? You never said you opposed that. No statement about it, nothing. Why haven’t you said anything about it? Are you not opposed to that one!?”
Nice to exi5tentialist is keeping it classy, and not letting facts get in the way of imposing their ideology. Reminds me of a certain news network. /snark
exi5tentialist #41
Why does he have to speak on this subject? Merely because you want him to?
If you want a blog which only addresses subjects you wish addressed, and which addresses every subject you wish it to address, please go ahead and start one.
@Daz (47). PZ Myers doesn’t have to speak on this subject. Of course he doesn’t. I’ll just infer his compliance and passivity in relation to the US bombing of Iraq and Syria when he doesn’t. Deal?
Especially when like the rest of FTB he repeatedly eggs on the US warmongers. There’s been a momentum building up at FTB in favour of bombing Iraq and Syria again for several months now, with repeated articles being blogged, rightly, about the evils of ISIS but, wrongly, barely a word in opposition to more US bombing. It’s bloody obvious FTB has been compliant.
Oh yeah, Nick Gotts mentioned one article against US bombing. One measly, pathetic article over months, arguing half-a-thing but not, as it happens, an explicit statement of opposition to this particular war. But there are no campaigns against the war, no repeated arguing against it or momentum in the opposite direction, just the usual hand-wringing of “something must be done about IS… but we’ll leave the big boys with the guns to decide what”. It’s pathetic.
Every time I’ve posted anything against this new war, which I’ve been doing for weeks. all I get is insults. And Myers, Brayton, Benson, Avicenna and Mousavi have just sat idly by saying nothing. Passive. Compliant. I tell a lie, Benson has just be deleting my comments. She at least has been active in preserving the momentum to war.
FTB is a great place on a lot of social justice issues but it has a massive blind spot when it comes to islam and islamophobia. The FTB analysis of the interrelation of islamophobia and the now renewed middle east war is a very shrivelled, one-sided thing. But hey, PZ Myers has declared me an asshole, all McCarthyite-like, so with him having declared it, an asshole I must be. Never mind that I am right about him – he’s sat silently thoughout this extended creeping and very obvious build-up to the new war. Absolutely silently. And yet he still eggs the US on with his anti-IS articles, just like most FTB bloggers. The nauseating hierarchicalism of FTB is obvious. There is no hope for the opposition here until that problem is addressed.
@antiprepo (45). Well I’m glad you find my opposition to the death penalty so memorable. I’m glad I’ve made my point. And I’m sure you’ll remember my opposition to this war as well. You won’t remember PZ Myers’s – because he hasn’t expressed any!!! In three months of build-up to war. Not a single grumpy grunt on the subject!
See the difference?
Gee, the tags on this post are feminism, gender, and equality. ” WHY AREN”T YOU ALL CONDEMNING THE WESTERN IMPERIALISTS INFIDELS?!!” doesn’t strike me as relevant to the conversation. In fact, it sounds more like melodramatic whiny douchebro derailing. How dare you notice the sexism and discuss it….WARMONGERS!!!! Seriously, so sick of assholes and their not so hidden agendas.
@Tethys (50) don’t give me that false-quote rubbish, I didn’t say that and you know that wasn’t my meaning so stop making things up. I said Myer’s take on the sexism in Fox News was a limited objective. I said that he hasn’t opposed this war at all, like most of FTB. My view is that focusing solely on the sexism in the Fox News article is to misuse an anti-sexist article to support a pro-war argument. PZ could dispel this argument by starting to post some opposition to this war. So keep your pro-war douchebro insults and start demonstrating that you oppose this war as well.
Or perhaps the problem is that you don’t oppose it. But will you say you don’t? No, probably not. It’s what people don’t say on FTB blogs that defines them as much as what they do.
Oh, so the reason you keep trying to derail a thread about sexism is because your personal agenda is obviously more important and anyone who disagrees is pro-war? Excuse me while I snigger at your rationalizing. :D tee-hee chortle
No it’s not a deal. All you should to infer from someone’s silence on any matter is that they have not spoken on that matter. Full-fucking-stop.
Are you PZ Myers’ boss? Is he under some contract to you? No? Then you do not get to tell him what to write about. I gave you a link to a free blogging platform. If you think that the subject needs writing about, stop telling others to do so, and bloody well do the work yourself instead of insisting that others do it for you.
Confirmed: exi5tentialist is the source of all those passive-aggressive “I bet you won’t copy this to your status” memes that get spread around Facebook.
Derailing douchebro has spoken! He stamps his foot and repeatedly demands we discuss his topic or else we are pro war poopieheads.
Only if you agree you are a fuckwitted idjit for doing so, and both overly idiotlogical and paranoid. Deal?
In what way? Leave your paranoia, and get to facts. And go bother those who are pro-bombing, and leave PZ alone. Deal?
All you get is the truth hurled back at you, and you get told off for derailing threads not about the war. Like this one, which is about feminism. You go to the thunderdome, and you should expect abuse. You aren’t a prophet. More like a mad-conspiracy nut.
People here at Pharyngula all the time get called out for islamophobia. Why are you here, and not where it is pronounced? PZ doesn’t run FtB. Get real. Which you aren’t.
What war? And why is it his job to write about what you want. The rest of us are happy with his threads. You don’t like what he talks about, go find somebody who either agrees with you, or start you own blog. Only bullies tell others what they must write about….
I can add a fifth reason to the heads are exploding list. For all of the noise made about how western society is so much less sexist than mid-east society it is telling that it is the US women soldiers who were banned from combat until just this year.
Seven of Mine wins!
Also, exi5tentialist, your logic remains faulty and I suspect your reading comprehension is as well.
In its content, I think PZ Myers’s original article above against the slimy sexism of Fox News is excellent, absolutely excellent. I support it completely.
At the same time I’m questioning how I feel about people who are vociferously anti-sexist but vague about their opposition to the war, and who might even support it, if not the sexist / islamophobic / jingoistic aspects of it.
Because I’m questioning this, I’m apparently supposed to be an asshole and a douchebro, according to the macho playground talk of the last few comments. The idea that PZ Myers, posting his criticism of Fox’s reporting of the war the day after the first bombing in Syria, has no responsibility to post his views on the bombing itself isn’t credible. Perhaps later on, the references to others sneering at the “Mooslims” or his sarcasm about jingoism will be cited as an anti-war comment. Or perhaps not, depending on the outcome of the war. Maybe rather than coming out and explicitly expressing his opposition now, PZ Myers is hedging his bets, in case the war turns out to be a propaganda victory for the centre-right it’s promised to be, and he doesn’t want to be on the wrong side of history.
In the meantime, all these douchebro and asshole accusations towards me are exactly the McCarthyism I was talking about earlier, an attempt to associate me with elements with whom I do not associate. That technique went out in 1957. I’m raising an issue which is directly relevant to the article. The stamping of feet is not me, it’s that elephant in the room so many people at FTB refuse to see. Over there. See it?
On the subject of silence: if somebody were the victim of a racist attack, or a homophobic jibe, or a sexist slur, or an ableist comment, and I witnessed it and said nothing about it, I would rightly be told that silence is consent. Then you can call me an asshole. The majority of FTB bloggers have for months been silent about their views on the build up to, and execution of, the bombing of Syria by the US. At the same time they’ve not been silent about the evils of IS that we all know about. I’ve interpreted this juxtaposition of speaking out against one thing, and silence against another, as compliance with the US bombing. The longer they remain silent on their explicit opposition to the war, the more I feel that FTB is a largely compliant website towards it.
Let it be clear that everyone here has been given the opportunity to express their opposition to this war now. I am glad Nick Gotts has changed his mind, but I haven’t seen any actual FTB bloggers be so explicit, and very few commenters. As the war escalates, which it will, and as more and more people get killed or suffer lifelong injuries as a result, don’t say later on that nobody ever asked you the question.
exi5tentialist sez:
Whereas this:
is totes not an attempt to associate anyone with elements with whom they do not associate. Nope. Nosiree. Not all. Nothing to see here. *shifty eyes*
Your idjit conjecture that PZ has to post about anything you want, and not what he wants, is pure bullshit on your part. Look at the masthead. I don’t see your nym. Now, you either apologize like an aggressive bully should do when called out for being one, or go start your own blog.
Your views have been heard, and I, for one, don’t take them seriously, once you stepped over the line into bullying. Now apologize and leave.
Look, folks, we’re not talking about what exi5tentialist wants us to talk about, so we’re doing it wrong.
I just thank the powers that be for exi5tentialist to come along and make certain were are talking about the right things in the right ways rather than the wrong things in any way.
Oh, exi5tentialist, protip: if you want someone’s opinion on a subject…
…ask.
If you actually don’t care, you could always try being a passive-aggressive asshole, though.
Again, I mean.
FTB bloggers could stop all this by declaring their position on the US bombing, openly and explicitly.
Killing people stands alongside sexism, racism, homophobia, islamophobia and ageism in the list of things that any self-respecting social justice advocate should express a clear and unequivocal view on. To date, most FTB bloggers have equivocated about the US’s latest killing adventure in Syria and Iraq, some have even expressed muted support for it (as a result they have lost all credibility as progressive commenters).
So what’s the answer, everyone? “I am against all US bombing of Syria and Iraq” or just “I am against sexist reporting of the US bombing of Syria and Iraq”?
I, for example, am against all the US bombing of Syria and Iraq. I am also against sexism and I think Fox News’s version is one of the slymiest and most repulsive in the media today.
That’s my stance. Why is getting other people to declare theirs so much like pulling teeth?
Who gives a shit what you think is right? It is up to the bloggers, not YOU, to make that decision. Quit trying to make that decision for them bully.
Because who the fuck are you to tell anybody else, what they must say and when bully? Get it? You don’t have any authority. You have not moral superiority that I see. Just another school-yard bully trying to get others to bow to their perceived authority…..
exi5tentialist
I note that your nym still does not form the anchor of a link pointing to your blog, where you discuss this topic at length. I note that you still insist that people other than yourself should produce the blog-posts which you show no willingness to produce. And thus I infer that you’re a fuckin’ hypocrite.
Nope, you are being mocked because you insist on being a stupid derailing asshole with an agenda. Calling the feminists who are pointing that out macho is simply confirming that assessment. Take your pissing contest elsewhere douchebro, or we shall mock you again.
I have in my hand a list of 200 known assholes.
The one constant in all of those instances has been you.
Geez, maybe because you’re jumping into unrelated discussions with demands that people address your pet concern right now, and stamping your foot like a petulant child when you don’t?
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that nobody has any fucks to give about what you think.
exi5tentialist:
We get it. This is your pet concern. So noted. You don’t get to dictate what bloggers talk about. There is a lot of shit that’s going on in the world and only so much time to talk about it. If a blogger doesn’t discuss that thing YOU find most important don’t assume it’s because they don’t find it important. Hey, I know, why don’t I criticize PZ bc I haven’t seen him weigh in on the gay bashing in Philadelphia. While it is something that I’ve been paying attention to and hits home for me, I don’t think it’s something PZ has to blog on. I don’t fault him for not blogging on this or any other important topics, bc it’s his blog and he has the right to discuss what he wants. More importantly, I can fairly well guess his opinion on gay bashings-he’s against them. He’d categorically condemn anyone who commits violence against gay people. He may not have the time, or necessarily the desire to comment on that, but it doesn’t mean he doesn’t care. He’s established the kind of stuff the he cares about over the years, and even if he doesn’t speak out on the subject that often, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t care.
It would be ever so lovely if you’d hop on the first train straight the fuck out of here. Or, barring that, shutting the fuck up.
Thanks for your considered replies, all posted in the spirit of free thought and open discussion, obviously. No, I’m not going to shut the fuck up.
FTB bloggers can of course MAKE me shut up. They’ve done so before. Their metaphorical drones are very effective.
The intersection between sexism and islamophobia is central to PZ Myers’s article. It begs the question, are feminists who are vociferous about sexism but muted about islamophobia, really feminists? Can you really be a supporter of just some social justice causes, and leave out others, and not have your social justice credentials challenged?
My mind goes back to Ed Brayton, PZ Myers and Ophelia Benson, and others, praising Maryam Namazie for ripping up the IS flag at the Oxford convention. A hero of the atheist movement, prize-islamophobe Richard Dawkins pronounced, to much enthusiastic applause. I said at the time Namazie’s flag-ripping was a symbolic act of violent destruction, goading the US into bombing IS. I still think it was a symbolic moment in the alignment of FTB directly alongside US military action. But it would and could only be symbolic. For FTB bloggers to routinely and openly come out and state their support for the US war would destroy the social justice credibility of FTB, hence their mutedness.
And certainly for any of the leading bloggers at FTB to come out, explicitly and repeatedly, opposing the bombing of IS in the latest round of America’s Long Middle East War would be a brave move indeed. They know it would cause a deep split in the body of FTB, which has plenty of islamophobic bloggers of its own. People like Avicenna, Benson and Mousavi, who blame islam, not America, for the long slow descent of the middle east into war and chaos.
So drones or no drones, it’ll be interesting to see how far into the territory of subsumed compliance FTB bloggers are prepared to go. I’ll excuse Avicenna, who yesterday openly invited the US to start a ground war in Syria. Not that I think US policy is determined by FTB, but the location of FTB in relation to the war says a lot about FTB’s collective ideology and values.
Of course, the silencers want the conversation at FTB to be chilled and quickly, hence all the dismissive language, “asshole”, “pet cause”, “dudebro” etc etc. They want to get back to the compliant situation where FTB’s collective support for America’s Great Islamophobic War is determined by its silence on the subject, its LACK of explicity opposition to the US bombing, its LACK of belief in opposing the war. The dehumanisation of anyone who dares to put their head above the parapet and openly denounce FTB’s near-total silence on the matter of opposing current US war policy sits uncomfortably with FTB’s social justice associations, but it’s a job that has to be done if the cohesiveness of the community is to be preserved.
Time will tell. But the light at the end of this war tunnel isn’t getting any closer. The more we take ourselves through this islam-blaming, IS-bombing, Taliban-hating, Saddam-executing, Gadaffi-stabbing hate-tunnel, the longer it seems to get. I just thought FTB might be a place where atheists could start making a stand against it. Apparently not.
exi5tentialist, the thing you seem unable to grasp is that nobody here feels obligated to jump just because you say “frog.” Nobody is actually biting their nails and losing sleep because exi-fucking-5tentialist is going to make some baseless, asinine assumptions if they fail to comply with his demands. Your passive aggressive threats to run off and infer horrible things about us are not actually causing any of us any concern.
That’s fine Seven of Mine, Shrieking Feminist Harpy @72 – Expletive insults, and avoiding talking about the central issues of islamophobia and feminism. It’s the FTB way. Another missed opportunity.
Who gives a shit about being nice to you with YOUR attitude. You are one angry fuckwit. YOU need to learn how to interact with people without being an asshole. You might even get somewhere. Until then, you are simply pointed at and laughed at.
OK.
So, let’s make this all a bit easier. Sorry if my approach so far has been too complicated to understand.
Here’s the question for everyone to consider:-
Are you for or against the US bombing of IS in Iraq and Syria?
… or are you only opposed to sexist reporting of the US bombing of IS?
This approximates my reaction to the derailing troll of the minute: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PFr-kNbXHew
Sorry asshole, you still don’t get it. SHOW ME YOUR WRITTEN AUTHORITY TO ORDER TO SAY TO POST ANYTHING. Or, shut the fuck up. That means you don’t us or PZ what to post or believe.
You are being an asshole for your beliefs. We are responding to the asshole. Stop being one, and you might be listened to. Get it?
Oh for fuck’s sake. Opportunity to what, exactly? Prevent you from inferring awful things about me? Oh dear. Someone direct me to the fainting couch.
Quick reminder of the question: Are you for or against the US bombing of IS in Iraq and Syria?
I’ve done a quick assessment based on what people have said so far across FTB on this very subject. Correct me if I’ve misinferred anyone’s answer to the question, but here are the results so far, in ascending order of degree of equivocation:-
Exi5tentialist — AGAINST.
Avicenna — FOR. Bring it on. Why not send the army in?
Nick Gotts — FOR bombing IS in Kurdish Iraq, AGAINST in existing IS strongholds
Mano Singham — hasn’t said explicitly. Has written an anti-US arms industry piece.
PZ Myers — hasn’t said. So far has only opposed the sexist reporting of the bombing, insults the person who raised the underlying issue of US bombing.
Ed Brayton — hasn’t said.
Kaveh Mousavi — hasn’t said.
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls – won’t say, insults the questioner
Seven of Mine, Shrieking Feminist Harpy – won’t say, insults the questioner
Tony! The Queer Shoop – won’t say, insults the questioner
vaiyt – won’t say, insults the questioner
Rey Fox – won’t say, insults the questioner
Tethys – won’t say, insults the questioner
Daz: Experiencing A Slight Gravitas Shortfall — won’t say, insults the questioner
Anri – won’t say, insults the questioner
anteprepo – won’t say, insults the questioner
This is a small sample, but it’s pretty obvious where FTB opinion is averaging out, and it’s around being passive and compliant with the US bombing of Syria. The anti-sexism angle on the bombing story is a fine exposé of Fox’s slymy slymyness, but in the absence of wider context has become a smokescreen to disguise the largely compliant and passive position FTB takes in relation to the US bombing of Syria.
@Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden (34)
Thanks for your support. Sorry not to have replied earlier. I agree with you on this point. I don’t blame the Stop the War Coalition for wording it that way. When Parliament is meeting within a day, you don’t get time to filter every statement for undebatable certainty. I’m glad they wrote what they did in the timely way that they did. I’m only sorry others are still equivocating.
Monitor Note:
Your post will be edited if you ignore requests by other readers to stop a behavior.
You may be banned from a comment thread if:
You cannot control your posting habits, and are dominating the discussion.
Your comments are repetitive, especially if you repeat arguments that have already been addressed.
[the rules]
Oh noes, the bloggers don’t all take a specific stance on every single issue, unasked. What exactly are they doing with their unlimited time, HUH?
You know, if you’ve been scanning all of FTB, you’ll know that this subject JUST CAME UP. While it can say something if you refuse to comment on a topic after being specifically asked about it, the simple lack of making a statement on an issue doesn’t mean that you passively support it.
(and by “this subject”, I mean “what it means when you don’t comment on a thing”.)
Quick question: How much do I care about exi5tentialist’s opinion of me?
Quick answer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E9Hv6fJtgQ
Since I don’t give a shit about an assholes opinion of me, they have no power over me. They can ask, but not demand, I agree with them.
And I might agree, might not. That is my decision, not theirs to make, and I will do so on my own terms, not for any approval of an asshole.
As long as the asshole/bullying behavior continues, the answer will be “NO!, and shut the fuck up” *middle finger salute*.
exi5tentialist @80:
Quick reminder: this is not your blog and we are not your servants.
I see you didn’t parse the easy to understand substance of my message. Instead you homed in on the coarse language. Fucking pissant.
****
I have an umbrella to share with anyone, seeing as the splat is inevitable.
Nerd @86:
Yeah, I love how this whiny little pissant comes in here and thinks xe has the power to make demands of the rest of us.
I ain’t jumping, no matter how high you want exi5tentialist.
Daz: Experiencing A Slight Gravitas Shortfall
Thanks for the patronising post, school teacher.
I agree my posts appear to be the centre of some people’s attention here. Does it occur to you that’s because I’m the only person across FTB blogs who is prepared to express outright OPPOSITION to the US BOMBING of Syria? What’s your stance on that subject by the way? Still sitting on the fence?
I see you are taking the side of the harassers here. “Asshole, dudebro, shut-the-fuck-up, middle-finger-salute” You’re on their side. And now you’re threatening me with the FTB mod drone attack. Well go on big boy, hit that button.
See what PZ Myers started when deployed the “asshole” insult. The rest of FTB follows suit like compliant follow-up commenters he wants.
@carlie (83) FTB’s compliance arises from its broadly islamophobic stance, one that puts the blame for the descent of the middle east into permanent war on Islam, not on the US, which is mainly responsible. This islam-blaming comes up time and time again across blogs by Benson, Brayton, Mousavi, Avicenna and others. Myers and the rest say nothing about it, and in criticising IS without opposing the US bombing, and by harassing anyone who DOES oppose the bombing, they have moulded FTB into a website that is COMPLIANT with the US bombing.
This is not just “any old issue”. This is the biggest issue in world peace and human civilisation TODAY. And Myers and others have said NOTHING about it, even when asked. Due credit to Nick Gotts.
@Carlie @84 – where is it this issue “JUST CAME UP”? I’ve scanned the head page, I don’t see a topic on it, if that’s what you meant. Or do you mean that the bombing of Syria just started on Thursday, so nobody could possibly have known it was on the cards? Laughable. This has been escalating for months. And I have been raising it with many FTB bloggers for months. If that’s what you do mean, you now have the opportunity to tell us what your position is, don’t you? Are you compliant with the bombing, like PZ Myers is, or not? It’s a simple question, I don’t see quite what’s so complicated about it for people, unless they actually rather like that underlying islamophobic analysis of the situation in the middle east, the one that eases the US out of the blame. Tell us what you think. If not now, when?
So anyway go ahead, Daz. There has been plenty of repetition in this comment page today. Will you be deleting all instances of repetition by everybody, or only mine? Don’t worry I think I know the answer. Now get your blue pencil out. The rules say that people with minority opinions who do not shut up when silenced by harassment will be censored. Go ahead and do it, make all this harassment really effective!!
Well, gosh, exi5tentialist, do you know what continuing lies will get you? Banned! Now you’re going to have to go harangue some other liberal group.
I gave you your answer in #35. I am not happy with our bomb-happy president, and I oppose further military expansion. But OK, if you want to accuse the whole of FtB of Islamophobia, ignoring the presence of ex-Muslims, and in fact tarring people like Maryam Namazie with your distortion of the slur, you’re going to have to appreciate the fact that I won’t let my blog on FtB be the vehicle for your misrepresentations.
exi5tentialist
I have no power to delete your words or ban you. I was merely pointing out the rules; rules which you continue to flout.
——————————————————————————–
With my monitor-hat off:
Exi5tentialist, I would not give you my opinion on the matter now if you offered to pay me for it. Why? Because you started off by demanding it.
Please, STFU.
Oops. Should’ve F5’d…
This is getting exposure outside USAlienstani, Fox News presenters mock female pilot who took part in campaign against Isis: “Hosts crack sexist jokes about UAE’s Major Mariam al-Mansouri, calling her ‘boobs on the ground’”.
And the fruitcake calling itself exi5tentialist: Feck off. With a rusty porcupine and some peas. Your stoooopidity almost makes me sorry for the peas. The peas, at least, are not racist.
I’d love to see exi5tentialist go head-to-head with StevoR, regarding the bombing of majority-Muslim countries. A battle of the trolls for the epic saga.
Nah, either one could be outsmarted by an asteroid — a pile of rubble in space weakly held together and at near absolute zero.
Cross posted from the Lounge, and a sort of followup to blf’s comment #93.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/an-open-letter-to-fox-news
An Open Letter To Fox News About ‘Boobs On The Ground’
Oh dear. Is this going on my permanent record?
Apparently, I’m late to the party, but I would like to argue that my response be changed to:
“Didn’t bother answering, accurately summarized exi5tentialist’s actions, which they took as insulting.”
That is, if it’s going in exi5tentialist’s Big Book Of Important Things, that is.