In addition to the smarmy, smutty tone, the ad was an ugly, desperate attempt to manipulate young women... it was a new cultural low. Lower, even than attempting to bribe women with free contraception — or cell phones.Obamaphones -- the one thing worse than sex! No wait, she's still bitching about sex:
...it forced normal parents, trying as hard as we can to instill reasonable morality, virtue, and common sense into our teenagers, to confront the ugliness of the hook-up culture which they have to work pretty hard to avoid. Who wants to be reminded that teenage girls now come of age in a culture in which it is common to strategize about how and where to have sex...I missed the part where Dunham talked about how she was going to suck Obama's cock. Is that in the director's cut?
The punch line: Schiffren's promoting a GOP ad that shows two women talking, and the one who represents a disappointed Obama supporter says things like "I supported him for four years," "I miss the way he used to make me feel," etc. No political issues are mentioned at all.
In other words, it's as fanciful (to be polite) as the Dunham ad, and it personalizes politics even more than the Dunham ad. But you can say this for it: They never allude to sex, which apparently makes it dignified.
I should be grateful, having seen what they're like when they do.
UPDATE. Ha, zuzu in comments: "Virgin in the front, martyr in the rear."
in a culture in which it is common to strategize about how and where to have sex...
ReplyDeleteNo previous culture in human history has ever done this before. I myself can attest that in Ancient Rome, such shenanigans would never have been allowed.
Harrummpph!
...it forced normal parents, trying as hard as we can to instill
ReplyDeletereasonable morality, virtue, and common sense into our teenagers
Promise rings and daddy/daughter dances are totally normal, and instill reasonable virtue, and common sense into teenagers. Remember, girls, if you only engage in anal sex, you're still technically virgins.
Needs more "Obama delenda est!"
ReplyDeleteRoy: "I missed the part where Dunham talked about how she was going to suck Obama's cock. Is that in the director's cut?"
ReplyDeleteThat made me laugh out-fucking-loud. My hat is off to you, sir.
It would not surprise me one bit if the head-scratching Neanderthals over at the GOP pulled a full reverse-Alinsky and actually made the explicit ad (Young female voter: ”I had Obama and he was TINY” [lifts pinky to show size comparison]) because they're convinced by the Dunham ad and their grade school understanding of culture and sex that that's what appeals to kids these days.
If anyone thinks I'm being too credulous here I would remind you of Pat Boone donning leather Heavy Metal garb to show off his "street cred." What they lack in self-awareness they make up for in verve.
Where's this "free contraception" Lisa's maundering about? Oh, she means the contraception that's part of the overpriced lousy insurance coverage from my employer that I pay premiums for? Seems she thinks that when I pay for the insurance, I'm not paying for the stuff the insurance (supposedly) covers. What's her next whine -- "Math is hard!"?
ReplyDeletea GOP ad
ReplyDeleteThat's "Feeling Gulity." The Independent Women's Voice also has one called "Boyfriend" and another called "Mr. Dependable." It's like a series.
Virgin in the front, martyr in the rear.
ReplyDeleteUh-oh...did you just say "Pat Boone"?
ReplyDeleteI had to go follow that link to your old post and now I have to think about The Anchoress' O face.
ReplyDeleteDidn't we get this same whine when wingnuts had to explain what That Woman Miss Lewinsky was doing with President Clinton's dingaling?
ReplyDeleteBut, oddly enough, not when Newt Gingrich, Mark Sandford, John Ensign (need I go on?) were engaged in extramarital dalliances.
ReplyDeleteUh, I'm pretty sure I said “Christina Hendricks" [crosses fingers and hopes Jenn has a whole passel full of these photos]
ReplyDeleteDamn, I didn't know Dick in a Box was a cover of a Pat Boone song.
ReplyDelete"Who wants to be reminded that teenage girls now come of age in a culture ...?" Lisa Schiffren had better not read a book or view a play from any era or culture. It appears as if she hasn't. Or she has, but she's so clueless that she missed even the broadest double entendres, as well as all the subtle stuff. Anything short of a dick thrusting in and out was lost on Lisa, so of course she missed the strategy sessions that make up a rough third of our cultural heritage.
ReplyDeletehe is “a great guy,” and “cool.” ... neither of
ReplyDeletethose qualities are really at the top of the list of key attributes for ... leaders of the free world
Whereas being "happily married" and having a newborn and being a moose-hunter are apparently , for second-in-command of the free world. That, or generating starbursts in one of Schiffren's stablemates.
the ad was disturbing also because it forced normal parents, trying as hard as we can to instill reasonable morality, virtue, and common sense into our teenagers, to confront the ugliness of the hook-up culture which they have to work pretty hard to avoid.
ReplyDeleteLady, the fuckin' thing was on the YouTube, not FOX News. If those impressionable young'uns of yours are roaming free on the internet you're not trying hard. You're not trying at all.
That's because there's not enough brain bleach in all the world for that.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention the fact that the point of the ad (as I understand it - unlike the "think of the children" set, I only watched it once) is that you should "save it" for the right person. But I guess any message about sex other than "Cover Your Filthy Bits" is another excuse to complain about "hook-up culture."
ReplyDeleteConservatives are offended by contraceptives but not "legitimate rape".
ReplyDelete"the ugliness of the hook-up culture"
ReplyDeleteThat's what beer's for.
Ms. Schiffren, usually it better to tell someone about something you consider to be dangerous rather than hiding its existence from them. Thus we can stop our kids from burning themselves on stove elements by saying "Ouch, burny" rather than by eating only cold food until they are 35 or so. We might call this education for the real world, if we were so inclined.
ReplyDeleteHow can people be allowed to buy time in the media to say things that imply a reality that disagrees with mine!
ReplyDeleteImma guessing that Lisa Schiffren is another of those NR writers whose main purpose in life is to make Jonah Goldberg look like an intellectual.
ReplyDeletenor explanations.
ReplyDeleteOccam's Razor
ReplyDeleteNo mention, I'm sure, of Reagan's "voting Democratic only hurts for the first few minutes and then it feels great" line, right?
ReplyDeleteI've come to realize that the reason they all thought THAT was OK was that it referred to female sexuality, so they didn't realize it was referring to sex at all.
That and, of course, the conservative explanation for everything: "Because shut up that's why."
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you!
ReplyDeleteMartyr? I hardly even knowyr.
ReplyDeleteInteresting way that she describes the video from "Independent Women's Voice" (nice branding, GOP!): "If you’ve confused political leaders with personal relationships — you
ReplyDeletereally have to know how to dump them if they’re unreliable and
disappointing." You don't say. Like, maybe, he used to be caring, or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof, promising to take care of you in sickness and in health, but then he found some new friends who definitely don't have your best interests in mind (and some of them are downright creepy), and you're wondering if his previous demonstrations of caring were all just a sham. But then he shows up in public and he's all enthusiastic and seems almost reasonable, and the alternative, well, he's serious and all but just doesn't seem to have that spark.
But you've been through this before, where you've chosen one guy over another on the basis of one good (or bad) night and regretted it at leisure. So you really look at them with a view toward the long game, and while the second guy hasn't done everything that he's ever promised to, he really does seem sincere, and the first guy is pretty obviously telling you what you want to hear, and he's not really going to ignore his new friends in the long run. The choice is pretty clear: neither is Mr. Perfect, but one is Mr. Trying To Make Things Better and the other is Mr. Doing Anything To Close the Deal.
Occam's Brazilian?
ReplyDelete"...it forced normal parents, trying as hard as we can to instill
ReplyDeletereasonable morality, virtue, and common sense into our teenagers, to
confront the ugliness of the hook-up culture"
Yes, it's appalling. From the actual soundtrack, this "new cultural low"--
"You want to do it with...a guy who really cares about and understands women."
Can anything be uglier than that? While we're desperately trying to instill in (Ed. note: Not "into") our teenagers the wholesome moral principle that they want to do it with a guy who really cares about and understands zygotes? And that sex and love (per Atlas Shrugged) is indicated by the presence of "contempt"?
Demi-vierge 4eva!
ReplyDeleteDon't tell Schiffren about the Rainbow Coaliton Parties!
ReplyDeleteKeep hope aroused!
I didn't follow it but now I have to also. THANKS.
ReplyDeleteHow long has Margaret Dumont been writing under this new pen name?
ReplyDeleteOccam's waxer.
ReplyDeletePeople didn't even start having sex until recently.
ReplyDeleteI think you mean "voting Republican."
ReplyDeleteaccording to lawyers, guns and money that was from a parody contest by Columbia school of journalism.
ReplyDeleteThose rascals at LGM! Eroding trust in what people write on the internet!!
ReplyDeleteThe Sixties ruined everything.
ReplyDeleteRum - it gets you there faster ;)
ReplyDeleteBring back cytokinesis, for America!
ReplyDeleteWhat's this "normal parents" horseshit, anyway? Wasn't she one of those Hot Sauce Moms?
ReplyDelete