Wow – What a Dick
I wanted to use a different word – but that will get me in trouble with some people and it’s not worth the fight today.
I’ve come across this woman’s blog before, and she has such an annoying air of self-righteousness, I’ve never been able to read more than a few words of any of her posts. However, since she writes about atheism and bisexuality and a few other areas that cross with interests of mine, I’ve landed on her blog enough times, and so I have again. However, now she’s crossed from self-righteousness to downright ignorance, and I’m fucking pissed.
Yeah, I know I’m obsessing. Last night I dreamed I was shot for drawing a cartoon making fun of gun advocates.
Okay, the name of this totally ignorant douchebag is Aoife and she “is located in a small town in Ireland, and she won’t let you forget it.” I’m not even sure what the hell she is trying to say with that. “She won’t let you forget it.” What the fuck does that even mean? Does she like living in Ireland? Does she hate it? What the fuck’s the big deal about living in Ireland? All I can say is that I hope it means that she doesn’t have electricity and can’t read because it’s about the only damned thing that explains her near total ignorance.
Okay, so she wrote:
Here’s a problem with #jesuischarlie: Charlie Hebdo, from what I can gather, was a publication that produced and distributed vile, racist material in the guise of satire. Unlike any satire worth the name, it punched down at already-marginalised minorities in an environment that just encouraged an intensification of preexisting anti-Muslim sentiment.
Well, I guess she is an illiterate living without electricity because, from what I can gather, she’s not capable of gathering very much. This is exactly what I was talking about yesterday when I mentioned that this incident has caused a crisis in my politics. Charlie Hebdo was not, emphatically not, “vile, racist material in the guise of satire.”
According to NPR:
The left-wing magazine is known for its biting takedowns. Its past targets include the political right wing, capitalism, Christianity, Judaism and Islam.
It was a favorite of a French Socialist boyfriend I had whose family had come to France from Algeria, although he himself would refuse any identity other than French. A few years ago, the satirical weekly took the side of immigrants against politicians on the far right.
She goes on to say:
Muslims in the West are disproportionally targeted for abuse and attacks, as are people perceived to be Muslim- normally due to their names and the colour of their skin. There’s an ugly strain of racism running through so much discourse that puts itself up as “just criticising Islam”, that you can’t ignore. There’s a lack of nuance to how we talk about Islam, as well. People talk about something called the “western world” juxtaposed against the “Islamic world”, as if these are two entirely separate and self-contained things, ignoring the fact that there is and has always been both massive diversity within, and massive mixing between, Islamic and Christian cultures the world over.
It’s all so much lefty fucking twaddle. However, if we return to her bio, we see:
She gets paid to teach, but will default to roller derby and social theory if given half a chance.
Which is exactly what she’s doing now. Rather than actually pausing and learning a couple of new facts she “defaults”, like some damned robot, to “social theory.” It’s ironic that she complains that we can’t talk about Islam with nuance because she typifies the leftist inability to talk about anything with nuance. This is what I was saying in my exchange with Daz in yesterday’s comments. Rather than trying to understand the situation she vomits up some garbage about the oppressed and the oppressors that hasn’t changed since I took a bunch of Women’s Studies and other interdepartmental classes thirty years ago. It’s not that those ideas are entirely wrong, but they become blinders and all new information must be fit into predetermined categories. It is sooooo damned easy to find out that Charlie Hebdo is not usually categorized as racist, I can only assume that Aoife didn’t even bother to think about it before “defaulting” to her predetermined settings.
But the dead were white and the killers are North African, so they must be “punching up.” God, how I fucking hate the “punching up/punching down” meme. As if some actions are okay or not okay depending on your target. Also, it implies that we always know which way is up and which way is down. Maybe you’re punching at a straight white male, but maybe the straight white male just lost his mother, or is mentally ill, or unemployed. Is that up or down? What if you’re unemployed too? Should it even matter? Maybe you just need to pause and think before you run around throwing punches.
Speaking of nuance, it’s also worth noting that many people have said that when the left sides with the reactionaries, it is the progressives within Muslim communities that suffer the most. Is that up or down? The former Muslim that every leftist loves to hate, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, got her start in politics standing up for immigrant women who were abused by their husbands. Is that up or down? So much interesectionality I can’t keep track of it no more.
Aoife continues:
I deeply value my right to speak more or less as I please. I value the privilege of the platform I have to speak on. I am aware that that right and privilege comes with incredible responsibilities to be thoughtful and accurate, as far as I can to help more than I harm, and to be receptive- within reason, since this is the internet after all- to critique.
Is that rich? Have you ever encountered such a humorless, self-righteous twit in your life? “Thoughtful and accurate.” Really, I’m glad I wasn’t drinking coffee when I read that because only a spit-take is the proper response. She obviously didn’t spend even five minutes checking her facts before pouring out a post full of stale radicalism from yesteryear.
It’s shit like this that just makes me hate the fucking left and the nightmarish totalitarian world they want to create.
You’re not Charlie Hebdo. You bet your sweet bippy you’re not.
fojap 
But she’s right, you know. Charlie Hebdo punches down poor abused downtrodden groups like that Irish minority, the Catholic church, and it even picks on the pope. I’m sure that with her extensive reading, she merely overlooked mentioning that Charlie is equal-opportunity satire, and instead focused on the fact that it only targets the oppressed, like prominent politicians. How can anyone not sympathize with murder?
Her students must really consider themselves lucky to be associated with such a genius. The point of continuously reminding us that she lives in a small Irish village is that if they don’t have electricity, she’s the brightest bulb in town.
Oh my god (and I mean Catholic god cos I’m Irish too) did either of you two actually read the entirety of the article that you have just critiqued (I mean ripped to shreds)?
Or was it a case of god forbid anyone stand up for the millions of Muslims who have been tarred with the same brush because a few individuals decided to undertake extreme acts and actually commit murder?
Get over yourself, that lady is a million times better at writing than you are. You’re ignorance abounds “I can’t keep track of it no more”!
“I can’t keep track of it no more,” was a reference to a Bob Dylan line. I don’t normally write that way, but apparently tone is something that eludes you. I stand by every word of what I wrote. People died. What kind of heart do you have?
Where have I blamed all Muslims? Personally, I think far less of Catholics than I do of Muslims, since you brought it up. Catholics starve children to death and put their bodies in former septic tanks. I was born out of wedlock myself. Happily, it wasn’t on a superstitious island.
Who died? Children and cartoonists. Who lives? Priests and Imams and other charlatans.
Does Irish equal Catholic to you? ‘I mean Catholic god cos I’m Irish’ would imply that you do. And you’re preaching tolerance to me? Your country’s name is practically synonymous with religious violence. Then again, maybe killing people in the name of religion isn’t so shocking to you.
And how do you feel about the Jews who were killed in the supermarket? Even before that, Jewish emigration out of France was increasing due to anti-Semitic attacks. France was the first country in Europe to consider Jews as full citizens. The emancipation of the Jews was part of the revolutionary program. The French Prime Minister has said, “But if 100,000 Jews leave, France will no longer be France. The French Republic will be judged a failure.”
I support the French philosophy of treating everyone as citizens and not considering their ethnic or religious background. I support the French concept of laïcté. It is only within a secular state that people of different religions can live side by side in a state of complete equality. In a world where religious fanaticism grows day by day, the French commitment to a secular society is heartening.
The French could be more aggressive in trying to resolve some of the prejudice that exists against the descendents of immigrants from their former colonies. Although in polls the French have more positive views of Muslims than other European countries, studies have shown that people with names that indicate an African origin experience discrimination in employment. However, the solution to that particular problem is greater integration. The Islamists who attacked the newspaper and the kosher grocery store want less integration, not more.
I very firmly believe that national identity and citizenship should have no racial, ethnic or religious aspect. How do you feel about that?
Not only did I read the entire article, I also read the comments. Did you read the comment that was written by a French person who said that he or she had expressly signed up to tell the writer that she was terribly mistaken about the contents of the magazine?
People died for drawing. I draw and I’ve been having nightmares.
Do you truly believe that I wrote what I did because I didn’t want someone to stand up for Muslims? I don’t even know how you got that from what I wrote. Are you hallucinating? It is certainly not what I wrote.
@ amo
One of the things I really don’t like about hit-and-run moralists like yourself is their cowardice. Why don’t you reply to Fojab who, despite your baseless innuendo, took time to refute every sanctimonious allegation you made? Do you know the meaning the concept of “simple courtesy,” and are you familiar with the term “politeness?” Seemingly not.
And oh, Charb, Cabu, Tignous and the rest of the cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo were full of empathy for immigrants, including Muslims. You, however, seem to be lacking in simple humanity and empathy for the victims of fascist, religious violence. Good luck with feeling morally superior; you seem to excel at that.
Ad hominem
Yeah, and here’s another one: You’re a jerk. Do you think I don’t know it’s an ad hominem attack. I say so in the post, only without the fancy Latin words. “What a dick” would seem to imply that. She’s a self-regarding pretentious fool and I suspect you are one too.