Comments

  1. Nemo says

    Apparently this dates to at least December 2017, although this is the first I’ve seen it, and I can’t find out anything more about it.

  3. Stuart Smith says

    Damnit, I really want to share this, but I can’t find any confirmation, any background… Nothing.

  4. John Morales says

    There is no context that I can find; it’s just another bullshit “meme”.

    (PZ gets sucked-in now and then, but hey)

  5. brain says

    The worrisome question is: how did PZ found out this clip? Wife away, googling “sexy spiders”? :)

  7. blf says

    The spider who lives behind my flat-screen display would like to point out a few things: First, “liberals”, in this context, means sentient critters who spin silk, eat their mates, and ignore Hannity. Second, ignoring Hannity is easy for sentient creatures (even those who don’t spin silk or are vegetarian), since Hannity is a bad Max Headroom. And thirdly, it’s the season for the sexiest spiders to jump out and gobble up the chocolate-carriers who are typically shouting “eat or feast” (some claim the shout is trick or treat, which amounts to the same invitation to chow down). Why it’s the sexiest spiders who jump out is unexplained. My guess is the not-so-sexy ones have been hiding, and wait until the sexiest ones are not hungry — full of chocolate and eat-or-feasters — before emerging in a fanatic frenzy of their own.

  8. woozy says

    There might be some truth to it.

    Hatred of spiders is an emotional reactionary response. Liberals like to question those and to explore options. Even if they, in the end, fall back on their emotional hatred they value that they should at least attempt to keep an open mind. Conservatives are comfortable in their emotional response (it’s called “reactionary” for a reason) and like to believe their guts are true and people who question are at best mush-headed.

    A liberal who hates spiders will read that they serve an ecological niche and are fascinating in their own right, and will think “well I really should try to understand more but, sheesh, they give me the willies” and feel shame in their gut reaction. A conservative who hates spiders and reads the same will just blather “Sheesh, I hate the fucking things! I don’t care if they do good things; they can’t knit sweaters for the poor for all I care as long as the do it in a cave where I don’t have to see them and can continue hating them as is the way things are supposed to be. And who the fuck, goes out of their way to find the good in something so gross. Mush-heads, that’s who” and feel proud in their gut reaction.

    Still though. This is weird and I wonder what brought it on.

  9. says

    I wonder if isn’t a reference to David Kirk’s Miss Spider kids books, which were adapted into a cartoon. Hannity is dumb enough to think a kid’s book author was going for sexy in his portrayal of spiders.

  10. woozy says

    … but it does seem to be a bullshit meme with no basis.

    Still, nothing in PZ’s post says he thought it wasn’t.

  11. PaulBC says

    I thought the whole femme fatale deal was the apotheosis of sexy. Could “sexier” even be possible?

  13. PaulBC says

    True, I can’t find any evidence Hannity ever said this, but it’s still funny. It fits an overall pattern of assigning straw man views to “liberals” that usually reveal a lot more about the speaker’s obsessions than anything any liberal ever said.

    I can imagine a context, like: if liberals are in charge, you wouldn’t be allowed to kill spiders in your own house. Without creating my own straw man here, it is just not difficult to imagine this being a real quote, and that’s strange.