tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3910925102347498027.post2862843251614446691..comments2023-11-15T06:24:37.082-05:00Comments on The Rectification of Names: Hardly shockingYastreblyanskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08335868257729063363noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3910925102347498027.post-64805876674970611732013-02-05T09:27:25.321-05:002013-02-05T09:27:25.321-05:00You're right about Holmes, that's brillian...You're right about Holmes, that's brilliant. Karoli didn't notice that it didn't mean anything (why should she, that's *my* job) because the message is all in the connotation. And at that level yes, it is banal. Gore has been StrawGore forever. Remember Ozone Man in 1992? I used to be angry at him for 2000, for never mentioning the environment in the campaign, and for not at least insisting that he won the election as old whashisname did in Mexico, but now I'm forgiving. It's easy for people like you and me to be voices in the wilderness when we're actually in the wilderness, and in good company, but it's no joke to be literally without honor in your own country, especially knowing that he was the best of them, of the born villagers, all along. <br /><br />Speaking of wildernesses, thanks for the conversation! As always.<br /><br />Yastreblyanskyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08335868257729063363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3910925102347498027.post-69286736190771506332013-02-04T23:46:33.187-05:002013-02-04T23:46:33.187-05:00Al Gore is doomed to pay the price for being right...Al Gore is doomed to pay the price for being right about climate change--hardly anybody likes a smartypants in Village. I'm drawn to Amy Holmes' word salad, though. I've seen her before on Bill Maher's show and she rarely strikes me as an especially articulate spokesperson for RW causes, but seeing what she said in writing as opposed to hearing it makes me realize she's painting a picture for people who don't think in cause and effect terms--<br /><br />"The Blaze writer Amy Holmes was predictably banal in her response, claiming Gore has "been telling the rest of the world to, you know, restrain and constrain our spending while he personally is becoming a wealthier man through, you know, his attack on Mother Nature."<br /><br />She's doing a few things, here. The use of "retrain and contrain our spending" is a callback to President Carter's turned-down thermostat. She's recasting him as a nag, if not a scold. She's also making it appear as if he must be a hypocrite for becoming wealthy, as if there is no way to do that besides some form of exploitation. When we think about "wealth", we often do think about people who are oil or coal barons, etc--she is equating him with them on the basis of having acquired comparable wealth.<br /><br />They hav unfairly used a StrawGore as a distraction from what he's actually said and done. It's disgraceful, but unfortunately--effective. (I guess, hence, the "hardly shocking"--they are gross, but not stupid. Except they are stupid, also, too, climate change being real. And, for another thing, journalism --of the honest variety--being important )Vixen Strangelyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01976594951225450413noreply@blogger.com