Thursday, May 16, 2013

THE CONSERVATIVE CRACK-UP, CONT.

At National Review Kevin Williamson commends himself on grabbing and throwing a woman's phone during a theater performance because she insisted on looking at messages or something. Williamson was ejected for his tantrum.

While I am torn on the merits (I am against unseemly behavior at the theater, which seems to apply to both parties here), I note that Williamson has said before that he believes in bringing back the stocks for "crimes that undercut shared community life and encourage the further atomization of our society." From his new post I would imagine that he sees the woman's behavior as such a crime and his own behavior as blameless, atomization-wise. And I'm sure his attack is nothing compared to the punishment fantasies his imagination summoned after the incident ("two parties of women of a certain age, the sad sort with too much makeup and too-high heels..." Yeah, he's given it some thought).

I note also that Williamson fantasizes general applause for his actions:
In a civilized world, I would have received a commendation of some sort. To the theater-going public of New York — nay, the the world – I say: “You’re welcome."
Radicals always think The People are with them, despite all evidence.

BTW Williamson is also the guy who said Gabby Giffords' emotional but non-assaultive response to the Congressional gun vote was a "childish display."

132 comments:

  1. The_Kenosha_Kid10:04 AM

    Clearly Benghazi drove him to such an extreme action. Damn you, Nobama!

    ReplyDelete
  2. tinheart10:21 AM

    "This here court is now in session, Judge Kevin Williamson residing, handin' out the law west of the Pecos."

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a dick. He seems to need to reinforce his sense of justified victimhood by his unflattering description of the rude women, too. women of a certain age, the sad sort with too much makeup and too-high heels, and insufficient attention span

    ReplyDelete
  4. harumph10:33 AM

    I love the commenter who manages to compare the incident to 9/11.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Roy: I note that Williamson has said before that he believes in bringing back the stocks for "crimes

    Roy, Roy, don't undersell it. He actually hints that he'd like to see caning and flogging brought back as methods of "results-oriented justice." I mean, can you imagine all those "snot-nosed American punk" [sic] Occupy protestors getting publicly flogged for camping in public spaces? It's justice AND a masturbatory fantasy for Williamson all in one. Finally, uppity liberals getting the beatings they deserve.

    ReplyDelete
  6. MRC21010:47 AM

    Kevin Williamson is also the guy who claimed that POTUS is a wimp because he only fathered daughters, while Mitt was a stud because he only fathered sons.

    ReplyDelete
  7. synykyl10:52 AM

    The only real attempt to question the authority of the judge's court occured the time Textin' Tess came to town,
    Not Dirty Textin' Tess the New Mexican, but the original Textin' Tess. The mean one. The albino.

    ReplyDelete
  8. montag210:55 AM

    Hmm. Jaywalking must be like the bombing of Hiroshima, then.


    I'm beginning to think that on the right, any sense of proportion today is as dead as irony.

    ReplyDelete
  9. In a civilized world, I would have received a commendation of some sort. To the theater-going public of New York — nay, the the world – I say: “You’re welcome."

    Well, as yet another right-wing Die Hard fantasy, ummm...well... Wait, no, bugger off, Kevin.
    Williamson is a complete dillweed. What, does he think the audience will hoist him upon it's collective shoulder, surf him to the stage, where he stands, one leg up on a prop, the ingenue of the play splayed on the floor, bosom heaving, clinging to his thigh for dear life? To cries of Rambo! Fabio! Rambio!

    You know what, Kevvy? If'n the lady was being rude, she was, what's the word, rude. Perhaps even an asshole. You...
    ...are a fucking child.

    ReplyDelete
  10. "...shared community life and encourage the further atomization of our society."



    Sounds like a socialist to me. That rudeness he saw is the result of Rand-like individualism.

    ReplyDelete
  11. AngryWarthogBreath11:20 AM

    "THESE WOMEN ARE INSUFFICIENTLY ATTRACTIVE FOR KEVIN WILLIAMSON, AND ALSO, THEY BEHAVE IN WAYS KEVIN WILLIAMSON DISLIKES"

    I disapprove of using your phone during movies. I also highly disapprove of grabbing someone's phone and throwing it. I learned something about that in kindergarten.

    I think Kevin Williamson was also the one who called Mass Effect a rape simulator due to thirty seconds of extremely ambiguous sexuality at the end of a game-long romance plot. At which point he was out-matured by video gamers, a group that is less mature than My Little Pony fans. (I can say this with authority as a member of both groups.)

    ReplyDelete
  12. tinheart11:21 AM

    I would like to take this comment to Galt's Gulch with me, where we discuss Aristotle while smoking cigarettes branded with the sign of the dollar.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Megan McArdle sympathizes with Williamson. https://twitter.com/asymmetricinfo/status/335045103699779584
    Evidently the libertarian approach to a bad experience in the marketplace is theft and destruction of private property, not leaving and refusing to give the business any more money, thereby ensuring market equilibrium.
    Since I now know that theft is a punishment for annoyance, I understand why McArdle has had seven bicycles stolen over the years.

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  14. "Would you like a medal or the chest to pin it on?" comes to mind for the poor boy.

    ReplyDelete
  15. XeckyGilchrist11:23 AM

    "In a civilized world, I would have received a commendation of some sort."

    In a civilized world, you wouldn't exist.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Halloween_Jack11:24 AM

    You know what would really be great? Theater owners/operators that enforced their own policies. They don't seem to realize that they're losing way more customers by not doing so than they would by kicking out obnoxious people.

    ReplyDelete
  17. AngryWarthogBreath11:36 AM

    Stealing someone's phone and throwing it away is the entirety of World War One.


    Of course, it would be wrong to suggest that Kevin Williamson supports responding to things that are exactly like 9/11 by doing things that are exactly like waging bloody and imperialistic war for no good goddamn reason.

    ReplyDelete
  18. wileywitch11:40 AM

    Why yes! His wittle peanut gallery is going to pay for the biggest trial in this nation's history! They're all going to be there! Every eyeball in the country will be glued to the broadcast! That woman is going to go to the big house! Wittle Kevin will be vindicated! And no one will ever text in a theater again!!!1!

    If this isn't that woman's last date with him, then at least she knows what she's getting into.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Halloween_Jack11:43 AM

    Kevin McCullough, actually; he later admitted that he hadn't played the game.

    ReplyDelete
  20. AngryWarthogBreath11:45 AM

    Oh! Uh... you know all Kevins look alike.


    On the plus side, I'm not as wrong as Kevin McCullogh was.

    ReplyDelete
  21. PulletSurprise11:51 AM

    Because everyone knows that the apex of civility is seizing a phone from a stranger and using it as a missile to hurl at a group of strangers.

    Why, this is something that isn't just a problem at the theatre! Hey, Kevin - why don't you go to the Rangers-Bruins playoffs game next Tuesday and repeat this demonstration of civility?

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  22. Paul T. Lazaro11:53 AM

    There might be case here for simple battery; under common law, battery (unwanted physical contact) can extend to the touching of/or interference with of an object the victim is holding/touching. Like knocking someone off a bike, or jerking an umbrella out of someones hand.



    Anyhoo--he's an real hero and super tuffy!

    ReplyDelete
  23. When I was in college, there was a very sad thing that I had to see or hear on a fairly regular basis: A young man venting his frustration by hurling a video game controller across the room. It always saddened me a little - here's an eighteen year-old acting worse than I did when I was nine.

    Anyway, that's what I thought of when I read that piece. I'm really not sure what the saddest part is:

    A.) That Williamson is a grown man with actual responsibilities;
    B.) That he did this in a public place;
    C.) That he wrote about it on the Internet with the expectation of receiving accolades;
    D.) That his readers are giving him accolades;

    E.) That there are people out there who still think NRO is a respectable publication, worth citing in serious debates.

    ReplyDelete
  24. In a civilized world, I'd like to think that I could pull an expensive piece of electronics out of my pocket without worrying that the manchild next to me might snatch it out of my hands and send it flying.

    ReplyDelete
  25. tinheart12:18 PM

    That was clearly an Obamaphone.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Get Chutney Love12:33 PM

    "Get off the cross, son, somebody else could use the wood."

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  27. beejeez12:34 PM

    Reminds me of one time in my youth when this guy was tailgating me and I slowed to 10 mph under the speed limit for a mile or so to make the point that I didn't appreciate it. I was watching in the rear view mirror when I saw him make a sudden right turn. Into a hospital E.R. drive.

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  28. I hear the voice of the late, great Slim Pickens delivering that line.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Anonymous12:40 PM

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    ReplyDelete
  30. Formerly_Nom_De_Plume12:43 PM

    Well, boys, I reckon this is it - cellphone combat toe to toe with the Texties.

    ReplyDelete
  31. BigHank5312:45 PM

    But in the GOP's dream world, the next piece of hardware she pulled out of her pocket would likely have been a Heckler & Koch 9mm. Would Mr. Stud make a grab for that too, or would he suddenly decide to politely pick up the phone, return it, and apologize?

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  32. BigHank5312:47 PM

    There's a co-worker of mine that Kevin ought to meet. The one who decided against the professional career in mixed martial arts. I'm sure he could take her phone away....once.

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  33. tigrismus12:51 PM

    Yet another example of the bizarro definition of "civilized" on the right. Civilization doesn't mean people aren't occasionally going to be thoughtless or even rude, it means when they are there are mechanisms for resolving the issue without resorting to aggression.

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  34. This is why I wax apoplectic whenever I hear rightists yammering on about "liberty." They are, at the core, rigid authoritarians, ever poised and ready to stomp on the throats of anyone with the temerity to challenge the privileges and prerogatives of wealth, property and heterosexual white maleness. The only thing standing in their way is democratic governance, which they are doing their best to eviscerate.

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  35. Jay B.12:53 PM

    So that's what it was. I was here in Los Angeles the other day, maybe late afternoon, when I was overcome with what felt like a billion people all screaming out at once.

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  36. KatWillow12:54 PM

    I'll bet any amount that Williamson would not have grabbed the phone from a man.

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  37. sharculese12:58 PM

    I totally believe an artless clod like McMegan goes to the theatre. Yeah.

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  38. Jeff_AEM1:00 PM

    Williamson indicated that it was possible that "criminal charges" were being considered irt this incident. So he blogs the details, on a highly visible, nationally known platform? He might be the dumbest contributor the Corner currently claims. That's worthy of some kind of prize, I think.

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  39. KatWillow1:01 PM

    I'd like to spend time in a Swan Boat on a lake with this comment.


    (Disqus no longer remembers me)

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  40. Mr. Wonderful1:02 PM

    And if this goes the way I think it will, I'd say that there's a medal and a commendation from the Nashnul Review Lee-joan duh Own-aire for each and ev'ry one of you--and that's regardless of how tanned your white skin is, what kinda Christian you purport to be, or whether you prefer the gas chamber or the electric chair as your primary instrument of adjudicatin'.

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  41. Who does he think he is, Naomi Campbell?

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  42. sharculese1:04 PM

    two parties of women of a certain age, the sad sort with too much makeup and too-high heels...



    Even when it's not about their issues with women, it's about their issues with women.

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  43. KatWillow1:06 PM

    Remember the Star Trek whale movie where Spock gives the Vulcan love pinch or whatever its called to a rude Bus passenger? And all the other passengers cheered instead of calling 911?

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  44. slavdude1:15 PM

    So, wait, I'm confused--are wingers supposed to be for atomization or against it?

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  45. montag21:15 PM

    In a civilized world, the NRO would not exist. And Williamson would be dumpster-diving for lunch instead of typing out self-important descriptions of his public tantrums.

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  46. So I minded my own business by utilizing my famously feline agility to
    deftly snatch the phone out of her hand and toss it across the room,
    where it would do no more damage. She slapped me and stormed away to
    seek managerial succor. Eventually, I was visited by a black-suited
    agent of order, who asked whether he might have a word.



    I dunno, Kev. Sounds a little fruity to me.

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  47. Jeff_AEM1:28 PM

    The comments last night (haven't tried to catch up since) were full of people (including a couple of apparently female participants) using charming forms of verbal emasculation ("pantywaist", e.g.) to put down guys who implied that a guy attacking a woman might have been inappropriate. Lots of "manly" types (anonymously) indicated how much they'd have liked to have had the same opportunity as Kev.

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  48. Gromet1:31 PM

    Whoa. That's a real throwback mentality in that column. Forget the Enlightenment -- his thinking there isn't even touched by the taming of fire.

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  49. GregMc1:31 PM

    Greetings, people of 2013! I have come to you from the year 2226 to congratulate you on having walk the Artist Formerly Known as Earth with the great Kevin Williamson on behalf of the organization "Phone Tosser Patriots"! So, um, keep fuckin' that chicken!

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  50. GregMc1:32 PM

    We in the future also long for the lost technology of proofreading before posting. Please to be preserving.

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  51. Gromet1:46 PM

    But... but Randian elites are all classy. They always act agreeably, with perfect restraint in personal interaction.* That's why Galt's Gulch works! The hyper-aggressive Makers and Doers who keep society humming certainly don't include anyone who'd rudely infringe your sense of propriety.


    *Also with loud, self-serving "honesty," occasional acts of violence, and petulant demands for recognition, as they see fit.

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  52. Jay B.1:50 PM

    *And rape. Don't forget rape.

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  53. I want to see this very special episode of Law and Order: Conservative Victims Unit, in which Williamson tries to explain that the old lady should be arrested for slapping him but it was perfectly okay for him to steal her phone.

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  54. shortstop1:53 PM

    No kidding. I was once kicked out of a cinema for getting up, walking out into the corridor and very politely asking the manager to move the people next to us, who wouldn't stop talking despite our (again, polite) pleas. The manager informed me that "owner policy" was to remove both parties when any kind of disagreement cropped up, regardless of who was doing what, who said what and how they said it. Yes, I'm still bitter.

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  55. Obviously if they were young and hot, they'd be on a date with him.

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  56. Gromet1:54 PM

    The place I see movies has ushers that control this stuff. But it also costs $14-$16, so there's that.


    I also like a $7 double-feature theater, but occasionally you get a snoring hobo in there. Which is part of the life of the place. You have to love humanity, there.

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  57. Gromet2:01 PM

    We're supposed to be rugged individualists who all come to identical conclusions about government, religion, morality, economics, and how to share public space.

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  58. BG, ribbons in my hair2:33 PM

    He and the woman are both jerks. I can't defend either of them.

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  59. Malignant Bouffant2:48 PM

    and insufficient attention span for following a two-hour musical

    He seems angriest about the perceived lack of attention span he attributes to these women.

    Maybe they just weren't as enthralled by a musical titled Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 as he was. Sounds like a children's book title to me, but I'm a vulgarian, not a vigilante.

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  60. reallyaimai2:48 PM

    Worse, it was clearly Hillary Clinton out with her lesbian liver nancy pelosi.

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  61. reallyaimai2:51 PM

    Law and order conservative victims unit? This has Hollywood success written all over it. I think there's an episode of it being helmed by Daryl Issa right now.

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  62. Al Swearengen2:51 PM

    Yeah, but the woman committed a crime against manners. Williamson committed assault. The woman should have maced the idiot.

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  63. reallyaimai2:53 PM

    What's stopping them? The supply of older women just begging to be attacked by younger male hoodlums is not really at issue. Surely if glory is to be had on this field of battle they can pretty much open a car door and hit an old lady.

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  64. mortimer2:54 PM

    I know just what Williamson is talking about. The other day, an estrogen-addled woman of a certain ethnicity sat next to me on the train and insisted on constantly tickling and cuddling her mewling infant. This egregious display completely distracted me from enjoying the latest Jonah Goldberg historical opus on my Kindle. She ignored my polite entreaties to smother the bairn with a grocery bag. So I grabbed the creature and hurled it off at the next station, to thunderous applause.

    Seriously, talking into a cell phone is one thing but the woman was texting? How is this any more distracting than say, eating popcorn? What a pompous twit.

    ReplyDelete
  65. JennOfArk2:54 PM

    Kind of the first rule of civility and manners is that rudeness in others doesn't excuse rudeness on our own part. I'll admit that I have failed this test on many occasions, though never by physically acting out. Then again, I don't expect others to applaud my rude responses to rudeness. It has happened sometimes, but it's never been a goal.

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  66. reallyaimai2:55 PM

    Hope you aren't a short fingered vigilante. Makes tying the ropes for the impromptu hangings really difficult.

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  67. JennOfArk3:03 PM

    I think you've got a brilliant idea here for a whole new chapter of the Law & Order series.

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  68. Bigby3:20 PM

    I just thought that's how people talk in 2226...

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  69. wileywitch3:22 PM

    Then again, there's the question of whether or not any of it really happened. If he made it up, then maybe that's the only way he could take a date to the theater.

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  70. Oh great, this story was picked up by Gothamist, which calls Williamson "heroic" in the headline and unironically agrees that he is like Henry David Thoreau. I've already had to explain to some Facebook friends who were cheering him on that if they look up this "National Review" thing he writes for, they're in for an ugly surprise.

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  71. Get Chutney Love3:39 PM

    It's an old Southern saying, I'm telling him that he's acting like he's being crucified when he's just being a potentially law-breaking ass.

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  72. wileywitch3:40 PM

    Thank you for this heartwarming tale of civic mindedness, mortimer. It's inspiring. I think I will knock that little kid, who used to ring our doorbell then run away, silly. My sidekick talked to him, and the kid stopped doing it; but it's the principle, ya' know? He was distracting.

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  73. Wait til he get the audit notice (postmarked Benghazi) and finds out his phone is tapped.

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  74. bulletsarepeopletoo3:47 PM

    Sounds like one of the few times where I hope the woman is rich and powerful (or knows someone who is) and is willing to abuse their status to get the guy fired if not heavily fined.

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  75. You can edit these Disqus thinghies, can't you?
    ~

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  76. Despicable Coward4:36 PM

    I sure hope he didn't injure himself from patting himself on the back too hard.

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  77. L&O: CVU



    You could make an entire season from Jonah Goldberg columns.

    ~

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  78. casino implosion4:57 PM

    Isn't conservatism supposed to be the philosophy of gentlemen & chivalrous type fellows? Courtly Bill Buckley types or stetson-hat tipping John Wayne guys?


    Would Reagan snatch a phone?


    I dunno. Williamson looks like the kind of deuche who shaves his head to hide the fact that he's balding, and then grows a facewig of stubble to offset the fact that his shaved head makes him look like a cross between a big baby and a lightbulb. An emo, temper-tantrum throwing, limp wristed libertarian prat.

    ReplyDelete
  79. I will confess to occasionally indulging in fantasies about going buck wild on scumbags (pretty much every time I witness something very, very wrong--from some asshole deliberately littering or vandalizing, to a lousy mother slapping her child. But I haven't snapped--yet--because cutting the Achilles' tendons of a litterbug or tagger will get you put in jail, while smashing the nasal cartilage of a bad parent with a baseball bat is just going to make things worse for the child. So I can sympathize with Williamson's rage against powerlessness JUST A LITTLE BIT.

    But Williamson also demonstrates the out-of-control Batman fantasy a wee bit too sharply; vigilantism ultimately leads to committing outright murder over saggy jeans or something else real smart and then disappointment that My City doesn't erect a statue in one's honor.

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  80. Spaghetti Lee6:57 PM

    To the extent that I'm sympathetic to Williamson at all (and I'm probably more sympathetic than I should be), I'd be more sympathetic if he said, "Yeah, I lost my temper, but it was worth it." But no, it's always gotta be "everything I do is to live out the principles of our MODERN CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT BLAH BLAH BLAH". If I saw him in a theater I'd throw my phone at him on principle.

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  81. montag27:15 PM

    D'Onofrio: "So, you're Jonah, right?"

    Goldberg: FAAAAAARRRRRRRT!

    D: "Your reputation precedes you. AKA, Doughy, uh, Pantload, right?"

    G: "Never in history has a point been made with such...."

    D: "Yeah, we know, we know. So, you've been victimized, right?"

    G: "Maybe I should put that question to my readers."

    D: "Why? Were you victimized by them?"

    G: "Well, no, not exactly. But, they're the source of my strength."

    D: "That bad, huh? Maybe you should take vitamins, instead."


    Munch: "Hey, Goren, know who we got heah? This is one of the Ma Goldberg gang. They specialize in tryin' to bring down governments. Including ours."


    D'Onofrio: "No shit, Munch. Lucianne's kid, eh? Hey, I read your stuff. You don't make a bit of fuckin' sense."


    G: "I blame society."


    Munch: "That's bullshit--you're just a white suburban punk like me--only stupid. Cuff `im, Goren. We're takin' you in, Goldberg."


    G: "Whaddaya mean? I'm innocent!"



    Munch: "I'll bet you've been called a lot of things, but never innocent. Hey, Goren, call the CIA. See if they have room for this terrorist in Kabul."


    D'Onofrio: "Uh, Munch, you smell somethin', uh, unpleasant?"

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  82. Big_Bad_Bald_Bastard7:24 PM

    Williamson looks like the kind of deuche who shaves his head to hide the fact that he's balding


    Watch it, you!

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  83. Big_Bad_Bald_Bastard7:57 PM

    They were really upset when the moose and squirrel failed to show up by act 3.

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  84. Cato The Censor7:57 PM

    OK,so Kevin Williamson thinks that the stocks and public flogging should be brought back to encourage morality. In that case, for snatching a woman's phone and throwing it away, I think he should be stripped, scourged, and nailed to a cross. An object lesson like that should ensure that we won't see any such incidents again, ever, plus, he can pretend he's Spartacus.

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  85. BigHank537:59 PM

    Rience? Is that you?

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  86. KatWillow8:04 PM

    And it would split off into L&O Wingnut Unit.

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  87. Jack Carlton8:08 PM

    It's interesting to note that the guy who violently lashes out (in violation of the law), forcibly imposing his will on another free citizen, *calls himself a libertarian.*


    This point cannot be stressed enough:


    Libertarianism purports to be about freedom and liberty, even *absolute* freedom and liberty. And perhaps that's true, in theory.


    But in practice, in 2013, in the conservative ranks of the GOP, "libertarian" actually means something much closer to fascism. The tea party is full of people who promise violence against liberals and democrats, want to overturn free elections, kill elected leaders, resort to "2nd Amendment remedies," and on and on. It's a militarized faction of fascists and they have taken the name "libertarian" and applied it to themselves.


    Just like the Soviets used to call themselves a "republic."

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  88. KatWillow8:09 PM

    Pity she didn't kick him in the nuts. On the other hand, I've never seen anyone in Real Life slap another person. That would be worth seeing.

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  89. M. Krebs8:26 PM

    I think this may shed some light on Victor Davis Hanson's chainsaw theft.

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  90. M. Krebs8:32 PM

    All your cryin don't do no good
    Come on up to the house
    Come down off the cross
    We can use the wood
    Come on up to the house

    ReplyDelete
  91. M. Krebs8:35 PM

    And he probably totally fucked up the battery.

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  92. M. Krebs8:38 PM

    It's the controller! It's the goddamn controller!

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  93. Big_Bad_Bald_Bastard8:45 PM

    The real question is, what sort of kitchen cabinets did the cell phone texter have?

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  94. Big_Bad_Bald_Bastard8:52 PM

    Does he even mention the gender of his date?

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  95. Big_Bad_Bald_Bastard8:57 PM

    They also claim to respect private property rights. Taxing a billionaire at a 3% higher marginal rate is theft, but wrenching a smartphone from a woman's hands and throwing it across a theater is heroism.


    Consistency is not their strong suit.

    ReplyDelete
  96. smut clyde9:03 PM

    John Holbo extends this point:
    http://crookedtimber.org/2013/05/13/utopophobophilia/
    Williamson's rhetoric sounds very socialist, with the appeals to Community; the promise of Utopia to justify present suffering; the Trotskyist ideas about Accentuating the Contradictions in order to hasten the Revolution.

    ReplyDelete
  97. smut clyde9:06 PM

    Does his vision of vigilante justice -- in the future when the dead hand of the State has withered away, and the tyranny of a centralised justice system is no longer imposed on us -- go as far as lynching?

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  98. Megalon9:13 PM

    I think "child" may be over generous. A two year old who doesn't want to eat his mashed peas seems more like it.

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  99. reallyaimai10:03 PM

    How did the people get into this?

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  100. Jeffrey_Kramer10:06 PM

    "The people [who matter]."

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  101. wileywitch10:10 PM

    I doubt that the flagging social mores is what got under his skin--- it's people he thinks are beneath him not deferring to him. He couldn't limit himself to complaining about the woman's behavior; he had to criticise her make-up, her outfit, her shoes. He had to OWN her.

    Those little fascists salivate at the thought of being able to kick someone in the teeth for not kissing their asses--- especially women and women of color.

    ReplyDelete
  102. when I was overcome with what felt like a billion people all screaming out at once.


    Yeah, I get that a lot.

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  103. Maybe the woman should have been playing with a gun.

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  104. Hey, it wasn't personal. Now, if your nom de blogge were Big_Bad_Shaved_Off_Full_Head_of_Hair_No_Really_Bastard ...

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  105. harumph10:38 PM

    I think the commenter's analogy was that people using phones in the theater was 9/11, and Williamson was Dubya. So the lady who happened to be sitting next to Williamson must have been Saddam Hussein. And then anyone who disagrees in the comments with what Williamson did is a dirty fuckin' "pantywaist" hippie. And yes, the word "pantywaist" appears multiple times over the course of the thread over there.

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  106. Kevin Williamson at a Keith Jarrett solo recital. Somebody make this happen.

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  107. I've slapped two people. One was a guy who'd just insulted me. The other was a guy who'd just bitten my cheek because I wouldn't go home with him.

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  108. GregMc12:35 AM

    I can't. I suspect it has something to do with me not being a properly registered commenter. From now on, no more errers!

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  109. Gromet12:40 AM

    Usually possession.

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  110. AGoodQuestion1:26 AM

    "Civilized world"? He misspelled "masturbatory fantasy."

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  111. I like it! It could also be called Poe's Law: The TV Show.

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  112. AGoodQuestion1:35 AM

    You know who else only fathered daughters.

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  113. Jimcima3:04 AM

    Many years ago I worked for a nice enough but very conservative employer who frequently told the story about how he was once tailgated in the fast lane on the freeway and finally, in frustration, slammed on the brakes (not just tap them, but a full wheel locking skid). The tailgater over-reacted and steered into the guardraid, rolling his car and causing other cars to collide in a several lane pileup while my boss floored it and sped way.



    My boss said he assumed the other driver and possibly others had been severely injured or even killed, and that he learned his lesson that day and would never again do anything so foolish especially given the sleepless nights he had afterward in fear that someone had gotten his license number and reported it to the police.

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  114. I'll bet almost any amount that he did not in fact grab the phone from a woman, that the whole incident exists nowhere but in his Internet tough-guy fantasy life.

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  115. Johnny6:03 AM

    Maybe call it "Poe's Law & Order" instead.
    "In the liberal fascist system, the conservatives are represented by two separate, yet equally important viewpoints: the fringe screeds of the Bircher set, and the clever parodies that are indistinguishable from said screeds. These are their stories."

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  116. Johnny6:06 AM

    Yeah, this definitely has the stench of shitthatneverhappened.txt about it. (The stench results from metadata in the txt file that triggers a file-specific scent from a USB-connected atomizer)

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  117. Bill Hicks7:11 AM

    "the further atomization of our society." But it's his philosophy that encourages "atomization." It's the "it takes a village" thing which the commies he hates go for.

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  118. BigHank538:32 AM

    Jesus, no one would watch more than two episodes of L&O Wingnut Unit. No matter what the crime is, it always turns out that Clinton Did It.

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  119. Williamson looks like the kind of deuche


    I always wondered how Springsteen spelled it.

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  120. LookWhosInTheFreezer12:21 PM

    The ultimate freedom in their mind is the freedom to lash out, regardless of laws, whenever the urge strikes. They believe in an ordered society where people play by the rules...so long as they get special exemptions when they don't like the rules.

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  121. brandonrg12:56 PM

    the libertarian approach is to seek justification and legitimization for however they wish to act. that's about the extent of it outside of the more academic circles.

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  122. AngryWarthogBreath1:01 PM

    Oh, I absolutely believe she goes to the theatre!

    I believe she goes to the theatre the moment something well-reviewed is on, sleeps through the first half, is condescending about people so uncultured as to not go to the theatre while sucking up to anyone who looks like they have status during interval, sleeps through the second half, and is subsequently all refreshed to be contrarian about other, cheaper productions at the theatre bar afterwards!

    But I don't believe she could tell Hamlet from La Leçon, no.

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  123. sharculese1:32 PM

    Hamlet is the one with the skull, right?

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  124. Tehanu10:14 PM

    Yes, and Macbeth is the one with the parts written specifically for Ann Coulter, Michelle Bachmann, and Princess Dumbass of the Northwoods.

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  125. Bill Hicks6:51 AM

    There's a nice Charles Bukowski poem about this particular scenario, in his Collected Poems. Something about going to the races, having a parking place "stolen," etc. Pretty nice.

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  126. Johnny, I think you've got a winning pitch!

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  127. smut clyde8:42 PM

    Expensive designer version for McMegan:
    http://www.theapplecollection.com/iMac/iStore/images/swal_6.jpg

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  128. Marianna Scheffer11:55 PM

    By god it's just awful the way women go around these days, doing stuff.

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  129. sharculese10:19 AM

    Please do not slander the witches like that.

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  130. I see this approach a lot online, and it is... disturbing that people carry on with it in the flesh-and-blood world as well.

    It's that kind of "extremism in the defense of [what I perceive as] liberty is no vice" thing that seemingly justifies anything, if your alleged cause is noble. The normal rules that govern human interactions do not apply, because you're right!



    He believes he deserves a commendation.

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