Sarah Palin Is Not The Best Of The Web. Never has been. Never will be.

September 21, 2009 10:21 AM

It's been nearly a year since the U.S. elections and MetaFilter still can't shut up about Sarah Palin and her circle. Can we please move on to more interesting material, like the best of the web or something of that nature? Seriously, people. This is getting really embarassing.
posted by jason's_planet to MetaFilter-Related at 10:21 AM (188 comments total)

Cue a call out thread the contents of which will be exactly identical to the FPP thread...
posted by Artw at 10:24 AM on September 21, 2009 [5 favorites]

I WANT TO BELIEVE.
posted by mazola at 10:25 AM on September 21, 2009

So, you think we spend too much time talking about Palin, still, so to remedy that you post another thread about Palin? Killa!
posted by dirtdirt at 10:25 AM on September 21, 2009 [5 favorites]

Surely this...
posted by Fezboy! at 10:25 AM on September 21, 2009

I want the other callout, not the retarded one.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 10:25 AM on September 21, 2009 [83 favorites]

If you aren't interested in the person who was almost VP and is still thought of reverently by some 25-30% of America, you are free to flag and move on or simply not read.
posted by DU at 10:26 AM on September 21, 2009 [18 favorites]

It's sort of hard to stop talking about her, considering she and "her circle" are in the press so much. Maybe take this up with the mainstream media and see if you get results there?
posted by muddgirl at 10:26 AM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

Also: the HighSchoolDorksObsessingOverThePopularGirl tag is a perplexing touch.
posted by dirtdirt at 10:26 AM on September 21, 2009 [2 favorites]

So, what you're saying is that we should flag her and move on?
Interesting advice.
posted by Plutor at 10:27 AM on September 21, 2009 [2 favorites]

Is it so difficult to scroll past posts you aren't interested in?
posted by arcolz at 10:27 AM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

I'm staying out of this discussion just like I am on the FPP
oh wait, damn
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 10:27 AM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

I agree with the sentiment, but I don't think the post rises to the level of public callout.
posted by adamrice at 10:27 AM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

I'm assuming we have enough callouts of Sarah Palin threads to have a callout callout thread by now.
posted by haveanicesummer at 10:29 AM on September 21, 2009

Hey, that woman who's in the media all the time, making a spectacle of herself, while simultaneously embodying much of what MeFites tend to loathe? STOP TALKING ABOUT HER ON MEFI.
posted by Pope Guilty at 10:29 AM on September 21, 2009

The MetaFilter I know and love is not one in which my posts will have to stand in front of mathowie's "death panel" so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their "level of interestingness on the internet," whether they are worthy of deletion. Such a system is downright evil.
posted by DU at 10:30 AM on September 21, 2009 [49 favorites]

I would also like it if we could stop talking about cursive in one of the other threads, because I don't find that topic very interesting.
posted by Astro Zombie at 10:30 AM on September 21, 2009 [8 favorites]

I'm assuming we have enough callouts of Sarah Palin threads to have a callout callout thread by now.

Yo dog I heard you- oh god, no! Stay back! Oh god, it burns!
posted by Pope Guilty at 10:30 AM on September 21, 2009 [8 favorites]

Gee, there's so many options here that don't involve a MetaTalk post. Here's a couple, try one or more of these:
1. Ignore the thread, read about other stuff that is best of the web material.
2. FIAMO.
posted by graventy at 10:31 AM on September 21, 2009 [3 favorites]

Talking about Palin is some of the best of the web, though. She mixes political intrigue with tabloid gossip.
posted by mccarty.tim at 10:31 AM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

Yeah, this thread is going to go well.
posted by cjorgensen at 10:32 AM on September 21, 2009

jason's_planet, aren't you in the middle of a big read-more-books-and-less-stuff-on-the-internet thing?

It seems to me that people who make posts you don't want to read are actually doing you a favor.
posted by box at 10:34 AM on September 21, 2009 [3 favorites]

It's been nearly a year since the U.S. elections and MetaFilter still can't shut up about Sarah Palin and her circle.

It's been nearly a year since the U.S. elections and the U.S. still can't shut up about Sarah Palin and her circle.

This is complaining about the universe.
posted by Ironmouth at 10:35 AM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

It's been nearly a year since the U.S. elections and MetaFilter still can't shut up about Sarah Palin and her circle.

Jerks.
posted by haveanicesummer at 10:38 AM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

Can we please move on to more interesting material

you start first
posted by pyramid termite at 10:39 AM on September 21, 2009 [6 favorites]

The thread would be better if it had the Something Awful Levi stuff as a top link instead of just hidden away in the comments. Because those articles are genius, while the Vanity Fair thing, not so much.
posted by mygothlaundry at 10:40 AM on September 21, 2009 [4 favorites]

Ha! I made the above comment in the other post (about the thread not going to go well) and it was deleted I assume as noise (and rightfully so). But then about half the comments that stand are noise.

I don't care one way or another about Palin threads. It's easy to move on to the next post. But people, when you post a Palin thread, think of the moderators! It's Monday, and I'd be willing to bet at least one of them groaned when they saw that thread go live.

It's an interesting article, but kind of a weak post. One link to a gossip article?

Also, you know there will be a metatalk thread, so you might as well start this at the same time, or maybe PB can code something that automatically does this.
posted by cjorgensen at 10:40 AM on September 21, 2009

But people, when you post a Palin thread, think of the moderators!

Are you familiar with the OP's history? He doesn't care.
posted by desjardins at 10:41 AM on September 21, 2009

I was going to say that the FPP would have gone over better in the evening. Sarah Palin is not something one likes to discuss while sober.
posted by hellojed at 10:42 AM on September 21, 2009

the HighSchoolDorksObsessingOverThePopularGirl tag is a perplexing touch

Bear in mind that tag (and this callout) is coming from a guy who has posted not once but multiple times to the front page about both bench pressing and squatting.
posted by dersins at 10:43 AM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

APOLOGY NOT EXCEPTED, DOUCHELOAD
posted by cjorgensen at 10:44 AM on September 21, 2009

She's just another unemployed right-wing blogger at this point.
posted by porn in the woods at 10:44 AM on September 21, 2009

I don't trust articles authored by people named after pants.
posted by haveanicesummer at 10:44 AM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

Well, one good thing that's come from this: Thanks to mgl, I have discovered that Something Awful is NOT blocked by my work's webfilters! Yay!
posted by muddgirl at 10:45 AM on September 21, 2009

She's not unemployed.
posted by blucevalo at 10:47 AM on September 21, 2009

She's not unemployed.

Having an agent is not the same thing as having a job.
posted by explosion at 10:54 AM on September 21, 2009

But... more Palin threads mean more opportunities for sweeping statements about Middle America as a monolithic culture of backwardness!
posted by small_ruminant at 10:56 AM on September 21, 2009 [7 favorites]

In my book, bringing in money = job = employed.

And she will be bringing in money, lots of it.
posted by blucevalo at 10:57 AM on September 21, 2009

Shit's like Beverly Hillbillies reruns, still mildly amusing even when it sucks.
posted by The Straightener at 10:58 AM on September 21, 2009 [2 favorites]

She's just another unemployed right-wing blogger at this point.

No, she's one of the top contenders for the Republican Sock Puppet Presidential role in 2012. That fact alone merits constant attention and even more constant ridicule so the fabricated narrative about how awesome she is doesn't get a toehold.

Now do you part for America and discuss Sarah Palin or suffer the consequences. What are you, a communist?
posted by Aquaman at 11:00 AM on September 21, 2009 [3 favorites]

Sarah Palin, a shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a woman whoes job does not exist, a young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless, in a world of czars who operate above the lawmakers...
posted by Artw at 11:00 AM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

In 2008 a hillbilly family was denied election by an electoral college forvotes they didn't get. The family promptly escaped from a secure governors job to the media underground. Today, still unwanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the Palins.
posted by Artw at 11:04 AM on September 21, 2009 [20 favorites]

Sarah Palin Is Not The Best Of The Web.

While I was pretty meh on PalinFilter a few days after her coming out party, I don't think an FPP on the subject is automatically crap by default, or that there will never, evar be an interesting post about Palin & Co.

However, the inane observations of Levi Whatsisface, as told to some VF intern, probably ain't it.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:04 AM on September 21, 2009 [3 favorites]

I would be fine with having no metafilter posts about her until nude photos leak.
posted by snofoam at 11:05 AM on September 21, 2009

Oh thank god I was afraid I would have to read the Peter Pan thread instead of working today.
posted by shakespeherian at 11:10 AM on September 21, 2009

I don't really wish to look at leaky photos of her, nude or not.
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:10 AM on September 21, 2009

This is complaining about the universe.

Don't get me started.
posted by enn at 11:11 AM on September 21, 2009 [2 favorites]

I laughed, because I care.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:13 AM on September 21, 2009

Don't worry, jason's_planet, I made a really stupid, pointless MeTa call out once too. You'll get over the burning shame eventually.
posted by Caduceus at 11:26 AM on September 21, 2009

Yeah, I second jason's_planet a million times infinity.

People, there just HAS to be a point at which we stop talking about this shit.

I mean, how long has it been since anything Palin-related could even remotely be considered "best of the web?"
posted by Afroblanco at 11:27 AM on September 21, 2009 [3 favorites]

I'm not exactly excited for another Palin go-round, and the thread on the blue was rather lazily done, but we've had thankfully few Palin-sphere posts for a while now (and I think deleted a couple that have come along), and this one seemed kind of inevitable once news of the VF thing started making the blog circuit.

I'm traveling and I think maybe getting a cold to boot, so I'm in "it's not exploding, good enough" mode personally. Don't much like it, don't hate it, don't think we're looking at a Never Again sort of situation with this one post.

That Something Awful shit is gold, fwiw.
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:29 AM on September 21, 2009

I will always be obsessed with Sarah Palin. She is a huge flaming blink tag reminding us that sometimes the Democratic process goes insanely wrong. How did someone so clueless, so dishonest achieve a position where she wielded real power? Perfect example: Wasilla before and after her time as Mayor.

This particular FPP? Meh. But I will read it. And I will follow up every link. Obsessed? You betcha.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 11:32 AM on September 21, 2009 [3 favorites]

That Something Awful shit is gold, fwiw.

I would so love having the job of editing Levi's SA articles. It would be like getting paid to do nothing.
posted by cjorgensen at 11:34 AM on September 21, 2009

cortex: if you're getting the cold I have right now, there's only one answer to it. Nyquil. Accept no substitutes.
posted by Hildegarde at 11:35 AM on September 21, 2009

Zambrano posted the original thread. jason's_planet posted this one. Neither user has commented in either thread. FYI.
posted by DU at 11:39 AM on September 21, 2009

COWARDS!
posted by JeffK at 11:40 AM on September 21, 2009

1) America forgets things really quickly, due to our 24-minute news cycle and tendency to vote with our guts, rather than our brains.
2) Sarah Palin as President would be an unrivaled nightmare that could easily end the world as we know it.

Therefore, it is necessary that we:

3) Constantly remind every man, woman and child of this woman's absolute unrivaled stupidity and disgusting "moral code."

I love Metafilter and I agree that Palin isn't traditionally the "best of the web." But really, anything that prevents Palin from ever having a political career in any field ever again is not just the best of the web, it's the best of humanity.
posted by Damn That Television at 11:40 AM on September 21, 2009 [17 favorites]

2. FIAMO.

Ciao!
posted by dirigibleman at 11:41 AM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

Generally speaking I agree with the "no more Palin" sentiment. That said, this is a pretty seriously-discussed well-researched article in a magazine known for decent articles of this sort. I saw it scoot around the blogs a few weeks ago and was surprised it wasn't here yet. I'm on my way to NY/NJ for a last minute funeral and while I'd like to say "we'll keep a close eye on it" I'm not totally sure that's the case.

I sort of think of this as a closure thread for all the other super-stupid threads, but I don't see anything deleteworthy about it personally. Could it be better? Sure. Is it terrible? No. It fits the standards for a decent post for MetaFilter.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 11:44 AM on September 21, 2009

She is a huge flaming blink tag reminding us that sometimes the Democratic process goes insanely wrong.

No, sh'es a reminder that the "Democratic process" is some shit we made up to keep us from curling up into a ball and never going outside if we faced the truth.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:46 AM on September 21, 2009

No, sh'es a reminder that the "Democratic process" is some shit we made up to keep us from curling up into a ball and never going outside if we faced the truth.

...is "the truth" that Earth has already been visited by aliens, but they decided we weren't worth much and so turned it into a prison colony where our memory is wiped and we live out lives of quiet desperation, always unconsciously longing for a life that we've been forced to forget?
posted by muddgirl at 12:01 PM on September 21, 2009 [2 favorites]

I'm sorry, that last comment was unnecessarily harsh. I still don't see what you hoped to accomplish with this call out, but there was no reason for me to crap in the thread. Sorry about that.
posted by Caduceus at 12:02 PM on September 21, 2009

...is "the truth" that Earth has already been visited by aliens, but they decided we weren't worth much and so turned it into a prison colony where our memory is wiped and we live out lives of quiet desperation, always unconsciously longing for a life that we've been forced to forget?

Close. The truth is that, well, we're made out of meat.
posted by Pope Guilty at 12:08 PM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

YOU LIE!
posted by blue_beetle at 12:11 PM on September 21, 2009

Stop reminding me.

(Pats growling stomach.)
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:12 PM on September 21, 2009

I apologize if you were offended by that. Not for saying it, but for you being offended, since it's your fault.
posted by blue_beetle at 12:12 PM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

...is "the truth" that Earth has already been visited by aliens

Fool, you think Earth exists.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 12:13 PM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

WAAAIIIITTTT!!!! SSSSSSTTTTTOOOOPPPPPPPPPPP!!


I don't have my popcorn and 2012 model Coleman Big Max folding chair yet!!

(hauls ass to Target!)
posted by pearlybob at 12:17 PM on September 21, 2009

Brandon Blatcher: ...is "the truth" that Earth has already been visited by aliens

Fool, you think Earth exists.

The 4-equidistant Time points can be considered as Time Square imprinted upon the circle of Earth. In a single rotation of the Earth sphere, each Time corner point rotates through the other 3-corner Time points, thus creating 16 corners, 96 hours and 4-simultaneous 24 hour Days within a single rotation of Earth - equated to a Higher Order of Life Time Cube.
posted by shakespeherian at 12:21 PM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

I have something of a Pavlovian response to seeing the name "Palin" on The Blue--and I 'd be okay if we didn't have any more Palin threads as it's dangerous to my health. It's neither easy nor healthy to simultaneously salivate and grind my teeth at the same time.
posted by leftcoastbob at 12:23 PM on September 21, 2009

She is a huge flaming blink tag reminding us that sometimes the Democratic process goes insanely wrong.

Actually, she is a reminder to me that sometimes the democratic process goes right. McCain picked someone who was blatantly unsuitable for the Vice-Presidency, and, would you know it, he lost. By a lot. Just when I was about ready to give up on it, the system turned around and worked. You should be proud. I know I am.
posted by Commander Rachek at 12:25 PM on September 21, 2009 [6 favorites]

Come on. This has all been worth it just for the phrase "Van Palin." Runnin' with the Devil, indeed.

(Now I desperately want Sarah and Diamond Dave to remake "Hot for Teacher." With Rich "little starbursts" Lowry as Waldo.)
posted by octobersurprise at 12:28 PM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

The 4-equidistant Time points can be considered as Time Square imprinted upon the circle of Earth. In a single rotation of the Earth sphere, each Time corner point rotates through the other 3-corner Time points, thus creating 16 corners, 96 hours and 4-simultaneous 24 hour Days within a single rotation of Earth - equated to a Higher Order of Life Time Cube.

Your mother is a creationist.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 12:32 PM on September 21, 2009

The whole Palin family experience is just a shining example that Ashton Kutcher's Punk'd oeuvre has expanded into a deep cover years-long Kaufman-esque escapade. When the final reveal (the prestige as it were) comes, we shall all bow before his glory and dedication to the long con.
posted by haveanicesummer at 12:39 PM on September 21, 2009

and, would you know it, he lost. By a lot.

Palin (and, to a much less extent, McCain) won 46.8% of the popular vote. That's not a lot of margin for error.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 12:44 PM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

leftcoastbob: I have something of a Pavlovian response to seeing the name "Palin" on The Blue

You start drooling?
posted by Kattullus at 12:47 PM on September 21, 2009

Oh man, I had this awful dream, I woke up and it was October 2008 all over ag... NOOOOOO!!!!
posted by not_on_display at 12:48 PM on September 21, 2009

US elections are determined by electoral votes, which McCain/Palin were throughly beaten on, 365-173.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 12:49 PM on September 21, 2009

US elections are determined by electoral votes

Certainly, but in swing states, the very slimmest of majorities, however ill-gotten, can dramatically alter the course of history.

I look at the 2008 popular vote and see a very slim plurality in the United States indicating its disapproval of Sarah Palin. Conversely, regardless of electoral results, 46.8% of the voters in the United States were indifferent or supportive of her to the extent they pulled the lever in her favor. We ignore those numbers at our peril.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 12:55 PM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

The only thing I didn't like about that post was that it didn't say Palin in it anywhere.

(Also the non-use of quotes, but that's my personal whiny complaint.)
posted by smackfu at 1:00 PM on September 21, 2009

Blazecock Pileon: Should not be ignored, but this thought makes me feel better-- "I think you have to assume a 27% Crazification Factor in any population."
posted by haveanicesummer at 1:01 PM on September 21, 2009

It's more Cormac McCarthy that way.
posted by Artw at 1:01 PM on September 21, 2009

Actually, she is a reminder to me that sometimes the democratic process goes right.

I'm not sure that a fair number of Alaskans would agree with that.
posted by scody at 1:14 PM on September 21, 2009

I would like to hear Ann Coulter analyze what Richard Dawkins has to say about Sarah Palin.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:19 PM on September 21, 2009

Certainly, but in swing states, the very slimmest of majorities, however ill-gotten, can dramatically alter the course of history.

It's interesting looking at the numbers. The percentages were 53. 7 to 43.2, 30 states/DC/Nebraska county to 22 states, 69,297,997 to 59,597,520 million votes.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:21 PM on September 21, 2009

I miss Oolong.
posted by marxchivist at 1:22 PM on September 21, 2009 [2 favorites]

while I'd like to say "we'll keep a close eye on it" I'm not totally sure that's the case.

holy shit dude she just called you other mods OUT

IN YOUR FACE CORTEX
posted by graventy at 1:26 PM on September 21, 2009

I'm on my way to NY/NJ for a last minute funeral

Ack. I'm sorry. :(
posted by zarq at 1:31 PM on September 21, 2009

> Certainly, but in swing states, the very slimmest of majorities, however ill-gotten, can dramatically alter the course of history.

True, but campaign strategies are tailored for winning the electoral vote -- which means spending a bunch of money in a few key contentious states while ignoring everything deemed safe or untouchable. This leaves a lot of people unengaged (only 58% of eligible voters showed up for 2008). Who knows what the popular vote would look like in a purely democratic system.
posted by cj_ at 1:42 PM on September 21, 2009

I disagree that Mrs. Palin, et al, are not the best of the web.
posted by jeffamaphone at 1:46 PM on September 21, 2009

This whole series of Palin threads, this thread, and the response to it, reminds me of elementary school when if a particular group of kids were observed to be doing something 'bad,' they would be confronted and either put on the wall or put inside.

When released, it was back to the usual business for some of them (this thread).

(Palin does the same thing too: does a perceived bad thing, gets confronted, maybe gets put on the media wall or inside someplace, and then back to business for her.)

Sure, the first few threads were like part of the political mudfight that ensues on a regular basis in this country: pre-battle priming, general warfare, and victory remarks.

Now we're getting into a, I really hate to say this, karma zone. She may not have the outward logical power that we saw from Obama, but how in the world she got where she is in the first place has to infer something: luck or an internal logic that succeeded to a point and I'll leave it at that.

I shutter to think that Palin and her groupies are scheming the future of their political careers at this moment, and they likely know they have several holes to shoot through for some quick wins: the division in the Democratic party on Health Care, the conflict status in Afghanistan, lack of economic quick recovery (sure, we can try and tell them that Reagan, Bush, and Bush caused the mess in the first place, but like that will hurt them. They'll just reroute their spiritual passion and charisma in politics elsewhere, and devour away at the Democratic weak spots left and right, including at lack of strong counterarguments in mass quantity), and much much more.

And Palin along with the Republican party would be more than happy to run right over everyone obsessed with their family issues, moral inconsistencies, political missteps, etc. etc. and continue aiming and heading for the power they so passionately seek. And let me make myself clear: I care about the great issues too, problem is I know that if I were to get frustrated, or even lightly concerned over that fact, THEY would win because I did not move on in the race and continue the consistent battering away at issues.

And while yes, Mr. Planet, they have gone on to a lot of interesting material, I do share your concern with the articles on the Palins. There is a 'meta'game in politics, I would not want to be on the losing end of that platform. The Palin issues are at the dirt and mud level of the game, dirt and mud the Republicans can walk on, and we can too.

2010 (election wise) is ~a year away. Mind off of her and on the matter of securing the nation economically and elsewhere for Peace, Prosperity, and Progress. We can win this race everytime so long as we all do not look back everytime finding ourselves in a little hole, like the Palin bashing hole.

Good day everyone!
posted by JoeXIII007 at 1:58 PM on September 21, 2009

It's been nearly a year since the U.S. elections and MetaFilter still can't shut up about Sarah Palin and her circle.

Circle you say? Hmm, yes, I guess she has had a lot of kids.
posted by The Light Fantastic at 2:17 PM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

I shutter to think that…

It's a good thing you mentioned that, because you have only one window of opportunity to have that remedied. You must see a doctor about it immediately. If not remedied, it could make you blind; not long after, it'll be curtains for you.
posted by five fresh fish at 2:32 PM on September 21, 2009 [17 favorites]

ow
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:37 PM on September 21, 2009

That sort of behavior is bannable, FFFl or should be.
posted by Astro Zombie at 2:39 PM on September 21, 2009

Everyone loves a train wreck, but if you can make several trains crash into each other repeatedly? That's worth a celebrity blow job piece in a national publication!
posted by crataegus at 2:48 PM on September 21, 2009

*defenestrates fivefreshfish*
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:57 PM on September 21, 2009

I'm tellin' ya:

Palin/Beck 2012

America 4 Real Americans!
posted by R. Mutt at 3:08 PM on September 21, 2009

The inspiration for your comment.
posted by gman at 3:11 PM on September 21, 2009

I know best of the Web when I see it, and today it's:





Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin, mushroom, mushroom.

Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin, mushroom, mushroom.

Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin, mushroom, mushroom.

Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin, it's a snake. Snake, snake, oooh, it's a snake.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 3:13 PM on September 21, 2009 [6 favorites]

Palin/Beck 2012

That would be awesome! Here's the entire campaign to run against them:

CLIPS OF PALIN AND BECK SPEAKING

FADE TO BLACK

VOICEOVER

"Palin/Beck 2012. REALLY?!"

END
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:14 PM on September 21, 2009

Vanity Fair is the best of the web.
posted by Zambrano at 3:22 PM on September 21, 2009

But... more Palin threads mean more opportunities for sweeping statements about Middle America as a monolithic culture of backwardness!

Also metatalk threads with sweeping straw men!
posted by inigo2 at 3:23 PM on September 21, 2009

Well, let's face it: straw men are very convenient to sweep with.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:29 PM on September 21, 2009 [2 favorites]

ahem

(though klangklangston answered it pretty well, I thought.)
posted by small_ruminant at 3:33 PM on September 21, 2009

Your mother is a creationist.

Well, in her defense, she did create me, so she's got that going for her.

A few years ago, she brought me to the Lab and introduced me to the Igors that were involved that fateful night. They were nice, if a bit apologetic about that whole "Stealing the wrong brain" fiasco.

Palin/Beck 2012

There isn't enough fire in the world to destroy this concept.
posted by quin at 3:37 PM on September 21, 2009 [2 favorites]

2012:

Democratic Party: Obama/Biden
Republican Party: Gingrich/Romney
American Party: Palin/Beck
posted by R. Mutt at 3:38 PM on September 21, 2009

Oh and to the OP, Paul Anka once gave me some valuable advice.

Just Don't Look™
posted by Talez at 3:59 PM on September 21, 2009

I had sea urchin for the first time today. it was good.
posted by jonmc at 4:11 PM on September 21, 2009

(Now I desperately want Sarah and Diamond Dave to remake "Hot for Teacher."

Okay, I read that as Dustin Diamond. And it was a sad time inside my brain.
posted by the littlest brussels sprout at 4:11 PM on September 21, 2009

Democratic Party: Obama/Biden
Republican Party: Gingrich/Romney
American Party: Palin/Beck

Guilty Party: Spitzer/Craig
posted by jonmc at 4:14 PM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

Yo Sarah Palin I know you lost the election and Imma let you finish but Rosemary's is the best creepy baby of all time.
posted by turgid dahlia at 4:25 PM on September 21, 2009 [8 favorites]

It's sort of hard to stop talking about her, considering she and "her circle" are in the press so much. Maybe take this up with the mainstream media and see if you get results there?

If MetaFilter is just going to be a passive conduit of whatever the corporate-media spectacle is vomiting up this week, why even bother? Why not just log on to the comments section of your local news site and comment there? The point being, it's not the 1980s anymore; we're not limited to the mainstream media and maybe we might want to take advantage of those opportunities to find content that's interesting and outside of the norm.


Bear in mind that tag (and this callout) is coming from a guy who has posted not once but multiple times to the front page about both bench pressing and squatting.

The human body -- it is pretty disgusting, isn't it?

I sort of think of this as a closure thread for all the other super-stupid threads, but I don't see anything deleteworthy about it personally.

Me either. But I got kind of sick of that topic after the community managed to write the equivalent of three small novels over the course of a week about her. It would be nice if we could move on from that, maybe not take our cues so blindly from the mainstream media, try to seek out weird, interesting material. Pretty utopian, I know.

jason's_planet, aren't you in the middle of a big read-more-books-and-less-stuff-on-the-internet thing?

It seems to me that people who make posts you don't want to read are actually doing you a favor.

Box just nailed me to the wall. To the wall, I tell you. Oh well. And he's right -- I really should be doing something else now. There's a half-finished copy of Parzival sitting on my couch not ten feet from here. I think I hear it calling my name.
posted by jason's_planet at 4:26 PM on September 21, 2009 [2 favorites]

If MetaFilter is just going to be a passive conduit of whatever the corporate-media spectacle is vomiting up this week, why even bother?

Repeated for truth.
posted by five fresh fish at 4:31 PM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

Remember John McCain's concession speech? And how Palin was tearing up and said she wanted to "speak to the country," but McCain wouldn't let her? Imagine if she stole the mic, Kayne-style. We'd have a meme, and Palin would have burnt through her 15 minutes quickly and cleanly. Plus, she'd have made an idiot out of herself at a time when the right wasn't so galvanized around her, giving conservatives a much needed moment where they'd pause, think and realize they were better than accusing a black man of having an invalid birth certificate and conspiring to prove that the president has a pro-euthanasia agenda.
posted by mccarty.tim at 4:39 PM on September 21, 2009

Re: Paul Anka: I disagree with that. Palin needs a certain amount of attention, not too much and not too little. The right amount, and Palin's happy, blogs have stuff to snark about and the world is safe. Too much, and the blogs become too mean towards a woman who has to raise a child with Downs, and Palin starts running away (resigns from Alaska to do damage elsewhere). Too little, and she starts doing dumb stuff to get attention (death panels). Do either too far in the wrong way, and she has a good shot at winning for president, or at least just sabotaging whatever president is in power.

It's really all about containment at this point. I suggest we just treat her like any other elected official. Those of us who aren't too political can ignore her at our leisure, while those of us who are fairly policy wonky can include her in our standard political Googles.
posted by mccarty.tim at 4:45 PM on September 21, 2009

Sarah Palin is the Spiro Agnew of this decade, let those who love her and those who hate her enjoy that. The rest of us can go on about our lives.
posted by jonmc at 4:52 PM on September 21, 2009

"Why not just log on to the comments section of your local news site and comment there? The point being, it's not the 1980s anymore; we're not limited to the mainstream media and maybe we might want to take advantage of those opportunities to find content that's interesting and outside of the norm."

wake up sheeple
posted by klangklangston at 5:03 PM on September 21, 2009

Sheeple = always funny
posted by josher71 at 5:49 PM on September 21, 2009

If Obama's administration doesn't end up delivering as we all hoped it would, then I'm totally on-board with Palin for Prezidunt in 2012, because if this moment in history isn't the point at which to try and steer the ship from the rocks it's been supertanker-gliding towards in slow motion for the 25 years, then, hell, Comedy Implosion Option will at least be good for teh lulz.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:11 PM on September 21, 2009 [4 favorites]

It's a good thing you mentioned that, because you have only one window of opportunity to have that remedied. You must see a doctor about it immediately. If not remedied, it could make you blind; not long after, it'll be curtains for you.

It's been a few hours since you posted that, the shuttering has stopped without me seeing a doctor. However, a new problem has developed: Punny Laughter Syndrome (PLS).

Between "shutter," "window," "blind," and "curtain," that compilation deserves a Best Of honor. Cheers!
posted by JoeXIII007 at 6:18 PM on September 21, 2009

Re: Paul Anka: I disagree with that. Palin needs a certain amount of attention, not too much and not too little. The right amount, and Palin's happy, blogs have stuff to snark about and the world is safe. Too much, and the blogs become too mean towards a woman who has to raise a child with Downs, and Palin starts running away (resigns from Alaska to do damage elsewhere). Too little, and she starts doing dumb stuff to get attention (death panels). Do either too far in the wrong way, and she has a good shot at winning for president, or at least just sabotaging whatever president is in power.

Oh I don't mean that Palin should be ignored by the MSM. When I say "Just Dont Look" I mean "if it doesn't really interest you just move on".

I don't go into every SLYT and whine on MeTa about how SLYT posts destroy MeFi. Don't get me wrong I sometimes go in to say that a particular "FUNNIES UTUBE EVER GUYZ!!!!!!" wasn't very funny at all but I don't wholesale shit on a particular genre of thread because I don't find the content particularly interesting or worthwhile.
posted by Talez at 6:30 PM on September 21, 2009

Palin/Beck 2012: for teh lolz.
posted by blenderfish at 7:06 PM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

Sarah Palin is the Spiro Agnew of this decade

nattering nabobs of you betcha!
posted by scody at 7:15 PM on September 21, 2009 [3 favorites]

*defenestrates fivefreshfish*

Am I the only person who read that and got the Fish Heads song stuck in their head? It's just me? Nevermind.
posted by zinfandel at 7:20 PM on September 21, 2009

OK, I admit that for quite a while, I thought "MSM" referenced a cable network. But then, I really don't watch as much TV as apparently I should.
posted by R. Mutt at 7:42 PM on September 21, 2009

You know that's Bill Paxton in the Fish Heads video? And that he directed it?
posted by Astro Zombie at 7:56 PM on September 21, 2009

Cortex is Patient Zero for the new H1N1 Zombie Strain.

Everyone after the apocalypse is gonna think Metafilter was a terrorist plot like in 12 Monkeys but really we just wanted to let Cortex frolic... :(
posted by cowbellemoo at 8:15 PM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

"Bear in mind that tag (and this callout) is coming from a guy who has posted not once but multiple times to the front page about both bench pressing and squatting."

Oliver Sacks was a championship weighlifter, and writes rhapsodically about it. So what's your point dersins?
posted by vronsky at 8:37 PM on September 21, 2009

Today's posts:

2 best of the web
1 worst of the web
27 meh of the web
posted by lukemeister at 9:02 PM on September 21, 2009

I'm okay with a Palin thread. I'm also okay with any FPPs about John Edwards and who the father of Rielle Hunter's baby really is, and links to "proof" that may or may not be definitive.


I am also okay with links to LOLcats. Aside from college and (later) marriage, I think this might just be the real reason I came to America.
posted by anniecat at 9:09 PM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

Why are you embarrassed? If anybody should be embarrassed, it should be mathowie. But he probably has better things to do than to be embarrassed about not having enough posts about weightlifting.
posted by anniecat at 9:16 PM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

Yo Sarah Palin I know you lost the election and Imma let you finish but Rosemary's is the best creepy baby of all time.

I swear to you all right now: in six months, when people are still making Kanye-based jokes in MetaTalk threads, I will continue to favorite them and find them hilarious.
posted by graventy at 9:31 PM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

jason's_planet, why do you think we need a self-appointed mefi-cop to tell us what should be on the front page?

Judging by the 188 comments and seven favorites, plenty of people were interested in the post.

But jason's_planet wasn't.

So you you propose that instead of availing yourself of the obvious and simple remedy (you not reading posts that don't interest you), you tell us that the post should be deleted, that everyone who did find the post interesting not be able to read it, because somehow that's a better solution than just asking jason's_planet to skip that FPP and read something else? jason's_planet, indeed.

Maybe that flies on your personal planet, but Metafilter you share with the rest of us.

There are plenty of FPPs that are of no interest to me. I haven't flagged any of those, not because the name of the site is not "orthogonality's planet", but because as a mature adult, I recognize that everyone else doesn't has the same interests I do, and because I know that no one is going to force me to read posts I'm not interested in. Uninteresting post? I just read the next one.

You want us to "move on" to more interesting posts? Then go ahead and post something more interesting. Whether you enjoy or not, many of us like reading and commenting about the Palin trainwreck.

Do you go into restaurants and complain "I don't like bacon, please take it off the menu because I see so many other guests enjoying it?" Do you go into libraries and demand that books not to your taste be removed so that other patrons can't check them out? Do you fulminate against 2-penny nails at Home Depot because you prefer the 3-penny size?

So, so sorry the post is not your cup of tea. But that's not a reason that I and many others should be prevented from enjoying it.
posted by orthogonality at 10:08 PM on September 21, 2009 [2 favorites]

jason's_planet, why do you think we need a self-appointed mefi-cop to tell us what should be on the front page?

Heh.

Judging by the 188 comments and seven favorites, plenty of people were interested in the post.

You've been around long enough that you should know that don't mean squat.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:18 PM on September 21, 2009 [2 favorites]

A mere 5 days ago...

This is someone telling us how we should behave on the site, what sort of things that we should be putting in our posts and I personally have a very negative reaction to that sort of thing.

How quickly we forget...
posted by jontyjago at 10:22 PM on September 21, 2009 [7 favorites]

That's not really the same thing though jontyjago if you think about it. Your post was asking us to stop posting links from a newspaper whose politics you disagreed with. But the links from the DM are on a wide variety of topics, all different. J_p is saying that Palin has been done to death on the blue and that any new gossip about her isn't really fpp material.
posted by vronsky at 10:59 PM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

five fresh fish, your comments pane me... (just jalousie, really).
posted by taz at 11:47 PM on September 21, 2009 [2 favorites]

well-researched article in a magazine known for decent articles of this sort.

I beg to differ. As best I could tell, this was Levi tawking sensationalist shit. Who knows if a fraction of it is true?

As for the magazine itself, it's got plenty of articles (filled with unnamed sources) that read more like something from the Nat'l Enquirer, less like something from a quality publication.

People are naive if they think VF isn't above slinging shit 'cause they know it sells.
posted by ambient2 at 11:49 PM on September 21, 2009

J_p is saying that Palin has been done to death on the blue and that any new gossip about her isn't really fpp material.

Exactly. I don't want to see the post banned. Just saying that I find the Palin-hate more than a little weird and excessive at this point, one year after the election itself, and that it would be awfully darned nice to see people using MetaFilter to showcase the dizzying diversity of the web, instead of using it for partisan war dances.


jason's_planet, why do you think we need a self-appointed mefi-cop to tell us what should be on the front page?

I'm not a mefi-cop, nor would I ever want to be; I'm just another MeFite expressing his opinion. I get to do this once a week. I've exercised the privilege four times in the three years I've been here -- and one of those was to announce a meetup, so that doesn't really count.

jason's_planet, indeed.

Maybe that flies on your personal planet, but Metafilter you share with the rest of us.


I think you're reading a little too much into my online handle. It's a reference to the novel Sammler's Planet, not an assertion of my domain or anything like that.
posted by jason's_planet at 12:20 AM on September 22, 2009

Why are you embarrassed?

Because I love this place very much and I find it embarrassing when people get this obsessive and goofy about a reactionary halfwit. Last year's Palin threads were not what you'd call one of MetaFilter's proudest moments.
posted by jason's_planet at 12:31 AM on September 22, 2009

I look forward to Palin threads because everyone knows the topic's been done to death and thus feels free to just make jokes. There are some very witty people on here and I relish the times when people just run with sarcastic comments and entertaining derail-chains.
posted by Scattercat at 4:56 AM on September 22, 2009 [1 favorite]

Judging by the 188 comments and seven favorites, plenty of people were interested in the post.

Have you subtracted however many of those comments were nothing more than variations on "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WHY ARE WE STILL TALKING ABOUT THIS WOMAN"?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:26 AM on September 22, 2009 [2 favorites]

Last year's Palin threads were not what you'd call one of MetaFilter's proudest moments.

Oh, please. This is an internet forum, not The New York Times. I don't much care if Sarah Palin-related content comes or goes--except as it provides me with sweet delicious snark--but heavy breathing over dignity and precious moments at nothing more than a link to a gossipy magazine story is just a little fatuous.

I read that as Dustin Diamond.

When Levi Johnston makes an apple pie sex movie and someone brings it here, then you can complain about being embarrassed.
posted by octobersurprise at 6:44 AM on September 22, 2009 [1 favorite]

Yes, Sarah Palin is a popular topic of discussion in the U.S
posted by delmoi at 7:33 AM on September 22, 2009

So Sarah is going to Hong Kong next week, she got a passport and everything, to make a big speech. She has insisted it be private, with no press. Now, obviously, someone is going to tape it and leak it. If she turns out to have said something hilarious or terrifying (or both, likely with her), we can't post about it?
posted by CunningLinguist at 7:36 AM on September 22, 2009

What is strange is that apparently they asked her to speak only as a big practical joke.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 7:51 AM on September 22, 2009

I would love it if Sarah Palin would just go away. Not only is she not doing this, she's actively affected the health care debate in the U.S. Ergo, she's a legitimate topic of conversation, unfortunately.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:12 AM on September 22, 2009

What is strange is that apparently they asked her to speak only as a big practical joke.

Whoa. Please, please go through with it, Sarah.
posted by graventy at 9:07 AM on September 22, 2009

From what I can gather, it's legit. The only report I've seen that it is a joke is speculation from the Clusterstock blogger. Palin's people are pretty damn incompetent, but I think even they would have figured it out by now if it weren't serious.
posted by CunningLinguist at 9:08 AM on September 22, 2009

Also: the HighSchoolDorksObsessingOverThePopularGirl tag is a perplexing touch.(dirtdirt)

Bear in mind that tag (and this callout) is coming from a guy who has posted not once but multiple times to the front page about both bench pressing and squatting.(dersins)

The human body -- it is pretty disgusting, isn't it?(jason's_planet)

I took it that the point of dersins' comment was that the sort of high school dude who was really into weightlifting was also the sort of high school dude who would have the attitude expressed in your tag about the relationship between dorks and the pretty girl. That, in other words, in virtue of your asserted stereotype about high school relationships, you were embodying a high school stereotype of your very own; and then there were glass houses, and stones.
posted by Kwine at 9:16 AM on September 22, 2009

> cortex: if you're getting the cold I have right now, there's only one answer to it. Nyquil.
> Accept no substitutes. posted by Hildegarde at 2:35 PM on September 21 [+] [!]

You haven't tried bourbon.
posted by jfuller at 9:36 AM on September 22, 2009

You've used the word "embarrassed" twice to describe how you feel about Sarah Palin posts. I don't even understand how what others are talking about here could impact you to the point of embarrassing you. There are always going to be some turds here, both in the posts and the comments. You must be in a near-constant state of humiliation if you let what's posted on MetaFilter define how you feel about yourself or how you think others see you.
posted by iconomy at 10:42 AM on September 22, 2009

When Levi Johnston makes an apple pie sex movie and someone brings it here, then you can complain about being embarrassed.

Embarrassed is probably the furthest from the reactions I would have.
posted by blucevalo at 11:34 AM on September 22, 2009

To all of you suggesting a Palin/Beck ticket in 2012 -- now, I know you mean Glenn Beck, but I keep reading that and picturing, you know, Beck the musician as her running mate, and that's a ticket I'd almost be tempted to vote for.
posted by webmutant at 11:34 AM on September 22, 2009 [1 favorite]

I think embarrassment in this context is fremdschämen: which is embarrassment outside one's self, or on behalf of another. Fremd meaning "other" or "alien" and schämen meaning "shame". I love that concept. Even if it is an uncomfortable feeling. Also, I love that outside that one German Lit class I had in college, Metafilter is the only place i've ever heard the word used.
posted by crush-onastick at 11:49 AM on September 22, 2009 [2 favorites]

To all of you suggesting a Palin/Beck ticket in 2012 -- now, I know you mean Glenn Beck, but I keep reading that and picturing, you know, Beck the musician as her running mate, and that's a ticket I'd almost be tempted to vote for.

I thought everyone was talking about that Beck. Which just goes to show how little I know about the US political scene I guess, but I thought it was hilarious.
posted by The Lurkers Support Me in Email at 11:52 AM on September 22, 2009 [1 favorite]

I don't feel German embarrassment. Only the American kind.
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:11 PM on September 22, 2009

Palin/Beck 2012 = Idiocracy/Scientology 2012
posted by lukemeister at 12:17 PM on September 22, 2009

> To all of you suggesting a Palin/Beck ticket in 2012... that's a ticket I'd almost be tempted to vote for.
> posted by webmutant at 2:34 PM on September 22 [1 favorite +] [!]

Make it Bjork and you've got a deal.
posted by jfuller at 12:41 PM on September 22, 2009

I think Beck's a Mormon, not a Scientologist. Same amount of crazy, but one's more socially acceptable.
posted by five fresh fish at 12:54 PM on September 22, 2009

five fresh fish: I think Beck's a Mormon, not a Scientologist

Alas, you are incorrect.
posted by shakespeherian at 1:04 PM on September 22, 2009

jason's_planet, why do you think we need a self-appointed mefi-cop to tell us what should be on the front page?

I'm not a mefi-cop, nor would I ever want to be; I'm just another MeFite expressing his opinion.

How many times have we seen this exchange? It drives me batshit. Expressing an opinion is not the same as calling for moderation. I also hate the Palin posts, but I would be upset if they were banned. (Because I don't believe posts should be banned just because they bore me.) Sometimes we express opinions out of frustration (which is maybe not a great motivation for a Metatalk thread); sometimes we do it to try to sway other people to our point of view or to SEE how many people share our point of view.

If I say "I think the mods made a mistake when they deleted post X," I'm not necessarily saying that they should re-instate it or that we should overthrow the mods and form a new Metfilter government with me as king. I'm just opening something up for discussion.

I often wonder if people who respond to something like that by saying "So you want everyone on Metafilter to follow your rules!" actually believe in open conversation? Do they only bring something up when they want immediate action -- action that puts their desires into law? If so, maybe that's why they can't understand someone with different motivations.

I have had this sort of exchange a discouraging number of times:

Me: I'm unhappy about X.
Someone Else: Oh, so you're saying the world should be run according to your whims?
Me: No. I don't think that.
Someone Else: Then why are you wasting our time by bringing it up?
Me: [Speechless.]

jasons_planet, I think this is a lost cause: I may be an extreme version of you. I have about a one-week tolerance for any issue or news story. I live in NYC and was here during 9/11. I was traumatized by it. Even given that, I get irritated ever September. I think, Jesus Christ! How much of this shit am I going to have to put up with?

I don't ever want to hear about Michael Jackson again. I don't ever want to hear about Sarah Palin again. Frankly, I'm bored with Obama, Obama, Obama, and yet I think he's a good president. And though I LOVE the Beatles ... SHUT UP ABOUT THEM ALREADY!!!

But you and I lose. People are going to talk about things as long as they are going to talk about them. People like us need to develop coping strategies (e.g. skipping the post), because we we're a tiny minority. The world is never going to be the way we want it. And why should it be?
posted by grumblebee at 1:05 PM on September 22, 2009 [1 favorite]

shakes, you sure?
posted by five fresh fish at 1:18 PM on September 22, 2009

Glenn Beck is a Mormon.
Beck Hansen is a Scientologist.
Beck's Brewery are Lutherans.
Beck (the manga band) are animists.
Jeff Beck is a Satanist.
posted by box at 1:18 PM on September 22, 2009 [2 favorites]

Breck Girls

1937 Roma Whitney Armstrong at age 17, first Breck Girl
1937 Anya Taranda (1915-1970)
1948 Marylin Skelton
1968 Cheryl Tiegs
1968 Cybill Shepherd
1971, 1973 Jaclyn Smith
1972, 1974 Kim Basinger
1974 Brooke Shields
1976 Erin Gray
1981 Christie Brinkley
posted by Skot at 2:03 PM on September 22, 2009

five fresh fish: shakes, you sure?

Being at work, I'm unable to view YouTube vids, so I'm left in the dark. In any case, are you talking about Beck the musician, or Glenn Beck the crazyguy? Beck the musician is, as far as I have ever heard (and 100%-accurate Wikipedia backs me up), a Scientologist, and from what I've heard in gossipy corners of the internet, Glenn Beck is a Mormon. So if we're talking about different people, disregard; if your YouTube link gives proof that I'm wrong, I'm okay with it; otherwise let's wrassle.
posted by shakespeherian at 2:07 PM on September 22, 2009

Yeah, Beck (the musician) is most certainly a Scientologist.

Beck (the Fox News nutcase) doesn't even have enough sense to join the fucking Scientologists.
posted by scody at 2:32 PM on September 22, 2009 [1 favorite]

Apparently he is a convert after his second wife refused to marry him unless he picked a church. Any church. He picked LDS.
I can sympathize with people who were brought up from birth to believe in golden platters and angels pushing polygamy, but to choose to believe that as an adult?
posted by CunningLinguist at 2:44 PM on September 22, 2009

(not to single out Mormons, I don't understand any adult religious conversions. Also, I didn't mean to get all LOLxians, sorry.)
posted by CunningLinguist at 2:52 PM on September 22, 2009

In the context of a Palin thread, I should imagine any Becks being mentioned are of the Fox Nutcase species. But true, it was never specified.
posted by five fresh fish at 2:54 PM on September 22, 2009

I was confused because The Good Beck had been mentioned very previously. But anyway.
posted by shakespeherian at 3:03 PM on September 22, 2009

Also, I didn't mean to get all LOLxians, sorry.

At metafilter the "respect for religion" crowd are generally pretty relaxed about LOLMormons for reasons the reader may wish rto speculate upon.
posted by rodgerd at 3:12 PM on September 22, 2009

reasons the reader may wish rto speculate upon

The holy underpants?
posted by dersins at 3:18 PM on September 22, 2009

I think it's "magic underpants."
posted by CunningLinguist at 3:20 PM on September 22, 2009 [1 favorite]

Your mom This post is not the best of the Web. Never has been. Never will be.
posted by oaf at 3:23 PM on September 22, 2009

The Beck-Palin "I'm a Loser" Campaign 2012 ; - )
posted by effluvia at 3:56 PM on September 22, 2009

but to choose to believe that as an adult?

Why? According to my family it was the subservient women and low interest loans.
posted by tkchrist at 6:35 PM on September 22, 2009

Palin/Becks 2032, assuming the Schwarzenegger amendment is enacted.
posted by lukemeister at 6:40 PM on September 22, 2009

How many times have we seen this exchange? It drives me batshit.


Yep. Me too. My own favorite was the woman who interpreted my MetaTalk endorsement of a post as an attempt to "force" her to like something she didn't.

I often wonder if people who respond to something like that by saying "So you want everyone on Metafilter to follow your rules!" actually believe in open conversation? Do they only bring something up when they want immediate action -- action that puts their desires into law? If so, maybe that's why they can't understand someone with different motivations.

Open conversation? Nah. Lots of people are here to hear themselves talk, to show off their sensitivity to the plight of the disadvantaged, to fire off one-liners that have fuck-all to do with the topic being discussed. Much of the conversational dynamics here are pretty narcissistic and that's why those people have problems understanding people with different motivations; narcissists tend not to be balls of fire in the empathy department.

jasons_planet, I think this is a lost cause . . . People are going to talk about things as long as they are going to talk about them. People like us need to develop coping strategies (e.g. skipping the post), because we we're a tiny minority. The world is never going to be the way we want it. And why should it be?

A little bit about me. I used to be a communist. That was in the early 1990s. When you join a communist group and head out in public selling that group's paper within a couple of years after the Soviet Union's collapse, you tend to define the phrase "lost cause" differently from normal people. Your point, however, is very well-taken. The balance of forces is not on our side right now. The world may never conform exactly to our ideals but maybe here and there, with patience and dilligent effort, we can nudge it a little bit in the right direction.
posted by jason's_planet at 9:45 PM on September 22, 2009

I am going to train this motherfucker up like a pokemon. Pony: please make favourites work on SA.
posted by =^^= at 3:38 AM on September 23, 2009 [2 favorites]

Results of her speech in HK.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:17 AM on September 23, 2009

""She was brilliant," said a European delegate, on condition of anonymity."

Ok. Which European nation gave Todd a job?
posted by octobersurprise at 9:25 AM on September 23, 2009

I can't resist, sorry:

“Personally, I’ve always been really interested in the ideas too about the land bridge. Ideas that maybe so long ago, had allowed Alaska to be physically connected to this part of our world so many years ago. My husband and my children, they’re part [unintelligible] Eskimo, Alaskan natives. They’re our first people, and the connection that may have brought ancestors from here to there is fascinating to me. Making our world seem a little bit smaller, more united, to consider that connection that allowed sharing of peoples and bloodlines and wildlife and flora and fauna, that connection to me is quite fascinating."
posted by CunningLinguist at 9:09 PM on September 23, 2009

How the fuck can you believe in the land bridge but not believe in either evolution or global warming?
posted by box at 4:52 AM on September 24, 2009 [4 favorites]

Take the meat bridge!
posted by haveanicesummer at 8:31 AM on September 24, 2009

"CLSA, an arm of French bank Credit Agricole, said it closed Palin's session to the media after she indicated that she would have to adjust her speech if reporters were present."

WTF?
posted by haveanicesummer at 8:33 AM on September 24, 2009

How the fuck can you believe in the land bridge but not believe in either evolution or global warming?

I knew a guy in high school who did this. He also described himself as a Jew for Jesus despite never having been Jewish. In the course of one of our interminable discussions on religion and science, I tried to use false cognates to explain how random coincidences don't prove that intelligent design is inevitably true, but was foolish enough to use Chinese and Quechua as my hypothetical languages. He was all over me with the land bridge meaning that of course the two are related. I tried to point out that it was only a hypothetical and that I didn't know anything about the linguistics involved, but that battle was pretty much lost.

It still wasn't as bad as the time I brought up the peppered moths. That time, he just laughed at me for two or three solid minutes, then told me all about how those moths had been painted. Then he called his mom over so she could laugh at my folly as well.

So, yeah, people do manage to pull it off somehow, although this guy was crazy and cognitively dissonant by pretty much any standard short of serial murderers.
posted by Copronymus at 1:03 PM on September 24, 2009 [1 favorite]

It still wasn't as bad as the time I brought up the peppered moths. That time, he just laughed at me for two or three solid minutes, then told me all about how those moths had been painted. Then he called his mom over so she could laugh at my folly as well.

Never get in an argument with someone who use "calling his mom over" as a debating tactic.
posted by dersins at 1:13 PM on September 24, 2009 [1 favorite]