In Which I Make Like a Paranoid Conspiracy Theorist

I’m going to admit, I’ve given up on reading any threads at Pith or at Post Politics in which Heatseeker, Harrison, Morpheus, Dr. Jellyfinger, etc. participate, because usually by about four comments in, I can no longer understand what the hell they’re saying. Chimpanistas, Captain Queequeg (am I missing something? I have to be one of only 4 people in the world who’ve actually read Moby Dick and I don’t remember Queequeg ever being made captain. Is this some inside reference to gay orgies? Is Chip Forrester wearing a whale foreskin as a raincoat? Just what exactly is the accusation here? And how can someone who makes obscure literary references to insult Forrester dare turn around and call Forrester an elitist?), etc. etc. etc. Every time it seems like a conversation might get going that has some substance and where people can ask questions and mull things over and hash things out, one of them shows up to start ranting at the commenters in their half-made-up language. See what happened in the comments in Laura Creekmore’s post the other day as an example or this thread at Pith.

It’s like the second there’s any chance of people talking reasonably and disagreeing but trying to understand what’s going on, you can count on somebody to show up to start derailing the conversation.

I’m starting to wonder if it’s not on purpose.

I was thinking about our discussion the other day about what happened with the Music Row Democrats and how it certainly seemed like they should have been poised to bring some new ideas and new excitement to the Tennessee Democrats in general and how quickly they disappeared and how the rumors I’d heard was that it was made clear to them that their active participation in the party was unwelcome.

And here is my question. Is it not clear to anyone who finds themselves having to try to detangle the nonsense surrounding the online discussion of the TNDP so as to stick to the hard discussions about who and what we are as a party that some people’s purpose (whether self-directed or not) is to make active participation impossible? Could it be any clearer that we are not welcome to have these discussions?

All I have to say about the whole thing is this–Tennessee Democrats better hope that these guys are just independent assholes, because if they are not, then we have deeper problems than I think any of us know what to do about.

Mar 30

Some Quickies

—Bunch and Campfield are unhappy about royalties. This made me laugh out loud about three different times this morning. One because they’re attacking academics’ royalties. Oh gosh, boys! Some people who take a penny never leave a penny! You’d better write up some legislation about that, too. Two, because “required” doesn’t mean “legally obligated to.” A “required reading” in a class is one that is central to the class. You don’t have to buy it, right now. They can’t make you. But it’s going to make it very hard for you to take the course. Which got me thinking, who is this person who is signing up for a class with a person he thinks so little of that he then resents having to buy that person’s book? Could you imagine if Toni Morrison were teaching a class in Contemporary American Fiction over at TSU and some dumbass felt fucked over because he had to buy Beloved? Bwah ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Are textbooks expensive? Yes they are. But by god, if that doesn’t sum up the Republican mindset in our state, I just don’t know what does. “Textbooks are expensive so let’s screw over the dudes who write them, who make about a dollar a book, instead of addressing who all gets the other $99 or $199.”

–Rex Noseworthy does something so douchy that I refuse to link directly to it. Here’s Kleinheider’s reporting on it. If Frizzell made his own joke about it, then you need to be damn clear that that’s the case. But the idea that anyone would joke about a veteran being jumpy about loud noises who is not that veteran himself? Fucking gross.

—2700 year old pothead.