Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Vanderleun's "Moist Men"

 
Daddy Dem's A WussFiled under "You Can't Make This Drivel Up," find the all-too-kind "book" "review" at American Digest. Both words have scare quotes because it's not really a tome, it's a creepy children's agitprop tale.

And Mr.Vanderleun does not so much review this...this...thing so much as he attempts to understand it by dissecting it. His description of the author and his ilk is apt: he calls them "moist men," for moist they are, and moldy. Not to mention unmanly.

How in God's creation did we end up with so many geldlings? And why, as he points out, are so many of them Democrats? Years ago, Jude Wanniski divided the political parites into the Mommy Party and the Daddy Party. Back then, it fit better than it does now. For one thing, men and women were still speaking to one another and to the children. That's not so frequent now.

But the Mommy Party, the Dems, have become such a parody of themselves that manly men have no choice but to leave. One should not have to sacrifice the family jewels for politics. Here's how Mr.Vanderleun describes the author and his kind:

Although they are legion, these moist men sometimes rise above sea level and become a sign, a symbol, an avatar for the rest. Today's Poster Child for Pap has to be Jeremy Zilber. Zilber's got all the career achievements you need to be the very model of a modern moist Democrat. B.A. from Oberlin, styles himself a "lifelong Democrat and political activist," has written a "scholarly" book whose bias shrieks out in its title ("Racialized Coverage of Congress: The News in Black and White"), lives with his partner and her daughter, and a cat. He's got all the fundamentals down pat. Now comes his crowning achievement, a children's book called ... wait for it.... Why Mommy is a Democrat.

It is hard not to run shrieking from the room. Oh. I forgot: only enraged feminists do that.

By the way, in keeping with this book, you heard that Larry Summers resigned from Harvard? I wonder if he has a gun permit. And a hunting license? Don't forget the duck stamp, Larry. Or the special one they sell for hunting shrews. And good luck, Larry!

God, will he need it. You can resign but how do you get your balls back once you've let someone remove them -- and even kissed their hands while they did it?

8 comments:

hank_F_M said...

Dymphna

Tell me you made a mistake and intended to publish this on April Fools Day?

Dymphna said...

Ain't if awful???

Read Gerard's whole post. He's a professional writer and it shows. His explanation of why he had to leave the Dems is one I've heard before.

You can't stay in there and keep all your anatomy if you're a man. Ask Hilary's husband. Or al-Gore.

I'm sure Zell Miller would like this one, as would our local Congressional rep., who finally had to move right a while back. The Birkenstockers are still mad.

Chip said...

Clinton and Gore's miserable performances in the Middle East during the Cartoon Jihad cemented me in the Republican Party for the forseeable future.

In another time they'd hang for it.

Dymphna said...

I have to say conservative/economic libertarian.

It's so fragmented, isn't it?

bordergal said...

You think it's bad here, you should read Stanley Kurtz's article about the Feminist Initiative group in Sweden.

Get ready for the "man tax"!

But I must thank Sweden, they serve as a nice test case for various stupid ideas, which we can then argue against here.

Dymphna said...

Mussi, any "sadistic relish" you perceive is your projection. I like manly men...guys who are clear about who/what/why they are and have an appreciation of their own place in the universe --even if I sometimes feel left out. Lord knows, there are plenty of times women make men feel like that -- it's not deliberate, it's just inherent in the situation.

Dave Barry wrote about the difference between "guys" and "men." (This was before the advent of the squish who needs women to love him so he becomes a nervous pretzel) Guys are always about ten years old, only they drink beer and stand around in circles, talking cars and spitting. So many guys spit...I guess because women hate it .

Men grow up. They gradually assume the mantle of manhood without making a big deal about it. The demarcation between them and women is clear and they don't apologize for it; they like it. They refuse to be manipulated.

Guys and men have their own problems and their own satisfactions, separate from women. For women, they remain slightly mysterious and interesting.

G.V.'s "moist men" is so apt a phrase it's kind of creepy. If Truepeers were still around he could explain it better than I.

Anonymous said...

During the last election cycle, our state representative sent out multiple pieces of campaign literature, none of which contained the words "Democrat" or "Democratic Party" or some variation. This was surprising, not because she would be ashamed to admit her party affiliation (last year's challenger to our Congreffsperson did the same and lost ignominiously to the incumbent, a former track star), but because the Republicans didn't bother to run a candidate against her.

Its not just the Democrats. Its politics in general.

kevin said...

"Moist men" conjures up dewey-eyed eunichs, sensitive beyond reason.As well as another image that doesn't bare mentioning in mixed company.