Wednesday, January 05, 2005
Good lesbian, bad lesbian
Via Alicublog, we learn that Jonah Goldberg, who was OUTRAGED when John Kerry mentioned in a debate that Mary Cheney is a lesbian, is now OUTRAGED that the New York Times didn't mention in its obituary of Susan Sontag that she was a lesbian.
That's not as hypocritical as it seems, y'all - the reason Susan Sontag's lesbianism must be mentioned is because it was her obituary, and also she had "contempt for traditional American values."
Mary Cheney is not dead and does not have contempt for traditional American values, so it would be unconscionably rude to mention that she is a lesbian, even though she is a lesbian.
UPDATE: In comments, Velociman says
Please, Velociman, can you imagine if John Kerry, of all people, had dropped Susan Sontag's name in a debate? I can just hear the gleeful howling from the right: "John Kerry once again shows how out of touch he is with American values by referring to New York City intellectual Susan Sontag blah blah blah!"
On the other hand, it would have been funny to hear Bush's response: "Well I'm sure this Susan . . . Susan Snotrag didn't choose to be . . . uh . . . let me finish! My point is, my point is this: The sanctity of marriage must be protected. And the Amurcan people know I'm the guy, the guy who will stand up for what he believes in and what he believes in is, is protecting marriage. Thankee."
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Via Alicublog, we learn that Jonah Goldberg, who was OUTRAGED when John Kerry mentioned in a debate that Mary Cheney is a lesbian, is now OUTRAGED that the New York Times didn't mention in its obituary of Susan Sontag that she was a lesbian.
That's not as hypocritical as it seems, y'all - the reason Susan Sontag's lesbianism must be mentioned is because it was her obituary, and also she had "contempt for traditional American values."
Mary Cheney is not dead and does not have contempt for traditional American values, so it would be unconscionably rude to mention that she is a lesbian, even though she is a lesbian.
UPDATE: In comments, Velociman says
Gotta come down faintly on Jonah's side here. Sontag's sexual preference helps explain her ouevre as a famous artist. The Cheney reference was a callow attempt to jaundice the Christian zealots with "Cheney has a fag in the family". Mary Cheney is not really a public figure. In fact, why didn't Kerry mention Sontag instead? She was still alive.
Please, Velociman, can you imagine if John Kerry, of all people, had dropped Susan Sontag's name in a debate? I can just hear the gleeful howling from the right: "John Kerry once again shows how out of touch he is with American values by referring to New York City intellectual Susan Sontag blah blah blah!"
On the other hand, it would have been funny to hear Bush's response: "Well I'm sure this Susan . . . Susan Snotrag didn't choose to be . . . uh . . . let me finish! My point is, my point is this: The sanctity of marriage must be protected. And the Amurcan people know I'm the guy, the guy who will stand up for what he believes in and what he believes in is, is protecting marriage. Thankee."
