I don’t want to Pit him, as I’m sure he’s a nice guy, and one of my favorite humorists, but I must stop reading his daily “Bleat” column and stick to his “Institute” stuff.
From today’s Bleat: “You know, I’m not wealthy like Al Franken or Michael Moore; I can’t go somewhere to give a speech and pocket 30 grand. I don’t begrudge them their success, but I do wish they would stop going purple because I get a tax cut and can afford to fix my daughter’s windows without dipping too far into savings. Okay? Deal?”
Yeah. Moore and Franken (whom I do not always agree with) are upset because tax cuts let you fix your daughter’s windows. Schmuck. OK, he’s a Republican. I’m fine with that. But his constant right-wing, well, bleats are plucking my nerves. Last month he said that the Democrats would rather see another terrorist attack than see Bush reelected.
I hate it when writers you otherwise like disappoint you with their bone-headed politics.
Yep! His later stuff is pretty dull, IMO, but his earlier stuff has moments of brilliance–“The Porcelain Salamander” is still one of my favorite short stories.
But man oh man his author’s notes are putrid.
A professor of mine during college was a SF author originally from North Carolina; when I found out he shared home states with me, I asked him if he knew Card. His face wrinkled up like I’d just shat on his desk: apparently, he loathed Card. Called him an arrogant, bloviated ass, if I recall.
I stopped reading The Bleat a long time ago because of that crap. I’m not saying he can’t have his politics, I just don’t want to read them. I stick to The Backfence and The Institute.
By the way, they make fun of him a lot over at Catch. You think you don’t like his politics…
My reason for not reading The Bleat is that I think ‘the Gnat’ is one of the most irritating nicknames anyone has ever given to their child. I can’t even explain why ‘the Gnat’ rubs me the wrong way so much.
Being somewhat MOTR myself, the usually appreciated David Letterman, Jon Stewart and Dennis Miller have all managed to piss me off royally at one time or another. Right now, is there any other subject that could concievably divide the populace more than politics and the associated idealogies?
Wow, what a fascinating read! If I were a leftist, I wouldn’t read it either. As it is, only half of it pisses me off, but I’ve pretty much learned to live with that. It is a writing style reminiscent of Cecil.
. . . But what do you think of his take on Michael Moore?
Seriously, I’m a left-winger, and Michael Moore pisses me off. It’s Lileks’ “all Dems and left-wingers are anti-American” screeds that annoy me. Naive. And his endless “I’ll be so sorry when New York is nuked. Which it will be. They’re going to nuke New York. Aaaany minute now . . .”
A. How does Liberal’s post quoting Mr. Moto show up before Mr. Moto’s actual post?
B. Lileks is just consumed by fear. 9/11 is the definition of his whole miserable fearful existence. Not that it wasn’t a national tragedy and a horrible defining event. But it’s like he’s made 9/11 horror the center of his very being.
Dude, get a grip. You live in fucking Minneapolis.
Akbar: O great leader, which decadent festering sore upon the vile body of the Great Satan shall be target next?
Osama: I have pondered long over this matter, my friend. Many hours have I spent studying the culture and ways of the cowardly and bloated Americans. After much thought and prayer, I have come to an inevitable conclusion.
A: Yes, my captain?
O: We must strike… Minneapolis. For it holds that most enormous symbol of American Imperialist Effemininate Commercial Secular Materialism – THE MALL OF AMERICA.
A: Accursed Shopping Center!
O: That, and it’s the home of the Metrodome.
A: Stupid Homer Hankies.
O: It’s was either Minneapolis or Cleveland. They got the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, and that’s hella decadent too, so it was a close call.
I just quietly deleted him from my bookmarks a few weeks ago.
It used to be a very interesting read. And then it was a little too kid-focused, but I could still deal with it. Yet when a whole day is devoted to a response piece to some over-the-top left-wing columnist, I just don’t care to read it anymore. I don’t read political blogs, and now that’s what it is more often than not.
There was one of his “New York is doomed!” predictions in the past week; the one that really riled me was shortly after 9/11, when he went into great detail about the rubble and destruction when NYC will be blasted into nothing. He got a lot of mail about that one (including from me: “Hey! We’re woikin’ here!”) and apologized the next week.
Yeah, I avoid the Bleat as well ever since it stopped being so much about the kid and the dog. But at least when he does read it, I can see it as somebody that I almost completely don’t agree with, instead of somebody I just want to smack. He does often lapse into simple-minded partisan name-calling. But for the most part he addresses points made and then goes off on some patriotic, hyperbolic tangent – in other words, he really does believe what he’s writing, instead of just making some knee-jerk reaction.
And the tone doesn’t really come that far out of left field – most of the rest of the site is based on nostalgia, after all. Making fun of it, of course, but still obsessed with it all. That implies a conservative viewpoint. Add a (to hear him tell it) idyllic suburban mid-western life with a wife, kid, and dog, and you’ve got even more reason to be conservative and terrified at the thought of more terrorist attacks. I don’t have to agree with it, or with his conclusions, but I can at least see where he’s coming from.
Doesn’t change the fact that most of the rest of the site is still damn funny.
