Erica Jong Rolls Out Every Liberal Cliche in Existence

I've seen some silly, hysterical bullshit in my time, but I've never seen anything like Erica Jong's latest volley in my direction.

Her original argument was that, because I am a male writer apparently fixated on Hillary Clinton's female characteristics while ignoring those of men, I must be a misogynist venting at Hillary because I secretly want to fuck my mother.

But when I then presented to her a list of similarly unkind -- in fact far worse -- descriptions of men that have appeared in my articles, suddenly the argument changes. Now I'm not a sexist, but... drum roll please... a Nazi!

Hilariously, I'm not just any Nazi, but specifically the very Nazi who banned the ingenious, idea-rich works of Sigmund Freud -- who just happens to be the poor dead sap whose theories Jong herself was wantonly bastardizing in her original post about me.

To sum up: Erica Jong writes a half-baked essay (on the basis of so perfunctory a read of one single line of one single article that she couldn't remember my name; she confused me with my father), violates my mother in print, and calls me a motherfucker. Then, when I write back to defend myself (and, by extension, my mother), she first cloaks herself in the suffering of both the Jewish people and African-Americans, then congratulates herself on having achieved the intellectual level of one of the great geniuses of the 20th century, and then finally compares me, in the space of a couple of sentences, to both the Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan -- two great historical enemies of exalted thinkers like herself, thinkers who even as we speak would be tirelessly working to prevent the breakup of the Antarctic ice cap and genreally save humanity from itself wherever possible, were it not for the childish insults of such anti-intellectual monsters as me gumming up the works.

Did I miss anything? Because I think she hit pretty much every single liberal cliche in existence. I wouldn't previously have thought it possible to connect a wisecrack about Hillary Clinton's arms to global warming, but I suppose anything is possible, if you really put your mind to it...

I'm sorry, I'd go on, but I'm still laughing about the Antarctica thing. On second thought, Erica, you're right, we'd better drop this. I should step aside and let you intellectuals do your job. It does feel a little warm outside!

Previously:
Erica Jong: Misogyny, Momism and Militarism
Matt Taibbi Responds: Erica Jong Thinks I Want to Do My Mother
Erica Jong Responds: Eight-Hundred-Year-Old Jong Responds to Callow Youth Taibbi

Comments

[mredder4]

Matt Taibbi is deliberately misrepresenting Erica Jong's article to give himself a victim's cloak to hide under. Erica Jong never said "You're a Nazi, Matt." She used similes to point out, quite accurately, that Matt is LIKE the Nazis. His goal is to demean the targets of his articles to reduce them in any way possible, with the result being that they are so insulted and ridiculed that no one could possibly listen to their side and attempt to see things their way. He's the master of the cheap shot. Anyone who disagrees with him must be lowered to sub-human status, otherwise they might, as Erica Jong did, use a well-written article without any manufactured pause points and drumrolls to puncture what he's attempting to pass off as an argument.

But it's "edgy" and young and hip. This is journalism these days? I also saw this guy on Real Time and found him to be a complete joke. Not because what he said was funny, but because he thought it was. "Oh man, I'm gonna burn Clinton so bad, and then I'll be a winner and a cool kid and my life will have meaning again!" Whatever he says or does, nothing will change the fact that he's parading opinion as journalism, to the detriment of his readers. The last thing we need is another high-profile Rush Limbaugh wannabe getting a lot of airplay and attention.

[TommyMcCarthy]

I'm a subscriber to Rolling Stone, and Taibbi's pieces are the first thing (some times the only thing) I read when the magazine arrives. While I too am often put off by some of the mean-spirited physical descriptions Tiabbi seems to like so much, ....the reporting is good enough that I just write it off by saying "Well, they've gotta get young people to read this stuff somehow".

As for the current dust-up between Tiabbi and Erica Jong........Tiabbi is correct that his infantile personal insults of political figures' physical characteristics are not limited to Sen. Clinton......he's an equal opportunity hater.

On the other hand it will be some years and quite a number of magazine articles from now before Tiabbi can consider himself 1/2 the writer Ms. Jong is.

Let's not count the self-justificatory piece above,........ which,................. amazingly for a relatively short piece,.................. contains the pronouns I, I'm I've, Me and Mine......an amazing 28 times......(just for fun, I counted)..........so we know what THIS article is about.

Not surprisingly, Mr. Tiabbi chose this one instance NOT to make nasty fun of his subject's physique..........Regards..........................................................................................tm

[Leper]

>>...he's an equal opportunity hater.

Matt Taibbi is not a "hater." He is a caricaturist. Taibbi does with words what Al Hirchfeld did with lines of ink or what Spitting Image did with puppets.

[Leper]

Wow. A good-old-fashion flame war. That takes me back to 1988.

[DLSteinhardt]

As one who labored here to get you both to finally just quiet down, I have to say BRAVO!

If Erica's was a volley, Matt's was a smash winner.

Fighting is tedious and self-indulgent within a publication, but a winning argument is a winning argument!

[Aanya]

Who is Erica Jong? Matt Tiabbi rocks! I worship your words Matt!

[jade7243]

I'm on Matt's side in this one.

And Matt, if you want to keep it going baby... I'm all for it.

Pseudo-intellectuals like Jong deserve to be taken down a peg or two by us "regular" folk.

[Lindy222]

Me too. But not so much that he knocks her out in the 3rd round. I need time to decide whether she realizes she's completely outgunned (if I can use the word "gun" in the current environment).

[Lindy222]

Snap!

Erica?

[clevelandchick]

Matt, loved it and I don't care what anyone says, you should keep it up. It's so much fun to read the different writing styles from today and yester-year.

Did you read her piece on Obama being a the Exciting Stallion and Hillary being the Hard-Working Beaver? If not, please do. It was as if Erica is still sitting in her bean-bag chair on a shag carpet listening to Carly Simon looking at her Playgirl with the Burt Reynolds centerfold while wearing Earth shoes and burning incense. It was so appallingly bad I almost thought she was kidding but then I compared that piece to other's she has written and I realized that no...she really was serious.

Jong's whole meme that just because Hillary is a woman that all women have to vote for her out of sisterhood is so shallow it astounds me. Should Ohio women vote for the Republican Mean Jean Schmidt if her Dem opponent is a male out of sisterhood? What happens if Condi is McCain's running mate? Do I have to vote for women I don't agree with to be a feminist? I don't think so.

It amazes me that Jong is considered an intellectual and a great writer after what I've seen of her writing here on HuffPo. Cliche just about sums it up.

[LeoMarvin]

The only thing you mentioned that still stands up is incense. Earth shoes and bean bag chairs ruined my back.

[ChimpmasterDJ]

"Jong's whole meme that just because Hillary is a woman that all women have to vote for her out of sisterhood is so shallow it astounds me."

Exactly. It raises ignorance of one's civic duty as a citizen of a democracy to the level of criminal imbecility. And all the more egregiously so when the woman being advanced under such a spurious claim is Hillary Clinton!

[Darwinita]

All of you whiners crying about Taibbi and Jong ought to remember the little "X" in the upper right hand corner. Christ, lighten the fuck up! I want to see what she says next, and how he shreds her. Who cares if it's trivial, or if you don't feel that it "belongs" on the Huffpoo? Shit, at least it ain't Britney Spears' goddamned cootch.

[rationalthought1]

Erica, What is it about one's age and one's gender that, in so many cases, seems to block the old b.s. detector. I thought we democrats knew that smell when we're around it. Hillary is shoveling it as thick and and fast as she can - can you really not smell it. Accusing Matt of misogyny, by the way, is like accusing Don Rickles of being insensitive. You totally miss the point.

[rationalthought1]

I can't believe that the best argument that some on this post have is: Erica is famous and has sold a lot of books, so shut up! That is SO lame. Gee, George Bush is way more famous and powerful so I better not pick a bone with him either. Matt specializes in deflating and mocking celebrity - so, Jong goes and walks right into the shredder. Yicks....its pretty funny, though.

[ld]

Matt, please cool out. You like doing insult pieces, and so be it, I get a kick out of them some times. But now somebody takes some lame shots at you and you're all excited.

You are a typical media type in having that sort of reaction.

[rationalthought1]

I'm sorry....but this generational mud wrestling is funny. Do you guys remember Andy Kaufman, the inter-gender wrestling champion of the world? If only he wasn't decomposed, I'd love to hear him challenge Erica to a match. All you politically correct lefties would probably be outraged - but I'd pay to see that.

[soylentgreenleftovers]

Knock it off, you two!

[evekendall]

No. Please don't! I love it!

[BubbaC33]

I could care less about the cat-fight going on between Taibbi and Ms. Jong.
I am, however, concerned that Taibbi seems to lack the journalistic integrity and ethics necessary to report on the Democratic primary in a fair and unbiased manner. Several weeks ago in Rolling Stone Taibbi admitted to hating the Clintons. Not mistrusting them. Not disliking them. Hating them. And that should disqualify Taibbi from further comment on the race between Ms. CLinton and Obama. It is clear he is not able to overcome his hate, so the better part of valor would be for him to recuse himself from any more commentary on Ms. Clinton.

[anghiari]

Ms.Jong, like so many writing on Huffpost has attempted to jump start a career yelling at Obama and lionizing Bill's wife. Ms. Jong, joins my What was I thinking list---Bill Clinton leads that list (I voted for him... twice).

[BubbaC33]

And you did not speak to the point I made, that Taibbi owes it to his readers to stop reporting on a political race when he has admitted to hating one of the candidates. It is unethical for him to continue and it is wrong.

[DemandTruth]

Oh, please. Lighten up. Recuse himself? Is he a political writer or a supreme court judge?!?

We know how he feels about Clinton. We ALSO know how Ms. Jong feels about Clinton. He hates her, she loves her. He disparages her, she defends her and believes she can do no wrong. We on the HuffPo are subjected to Ms. Jong's and Ms. Marsh's defense of Clinton constantly. We appreciate the other side of that coin sometimes, thanks.

Would YOU recuse yourself if someone wrote a blog on the HuffPo calling YOU a motherfucker, or a wannabe motherfucker?

What I wanna know is how does Matt know Clinton has flabby arms? All I ever see her in are long sleeved jackets...

[BubbaC33]

Taibbi said he hates the Clintons, how can anything he reports be trusted to be accurate, truthful, or fair? It cannot and he owes it to his readers to stop reporting on the campaign. And nothng in your posting, even the profanity, changes that fact.

[RButler]

If he's the same guy that was on Bill Maher's show a couple of weeks ago, then his nastiness is no surprise. I emailed Maher to lose him from the show, if that would make any difference. All he did was fire off a bunch of snarky, anti-Hillary applause lines that didn't even go over that well. It's one thing to be funny, it's another to be just nasty and boring. I've read better commentary from anonymous people on this site than this Matt guy and he gets PAID for it. Amazing. Well, then there's Brittany, Paris and the rest. Ross Perot's 'giant sucking sound' has turned out to be the vacuum that pulls in all this crap like Matt's writing.

[rojo7449]

So, this petty argument between 2 writers is now news? Nothing else going on in the world?

[larud9233]

I'm not really invested in the details of this rather petty argument, except to say I really amazed that this Matt guy makes a living as a writer for Rolling Stone. She's right. He doesn't argue points, just picks out parts of her essay and uses the words often missing her point. It's pretty funny Jong has sold over 18 million books world wide. Who is this Matt guy? His writing is really not very good. Let's just ignore him.

[blah blah blah]

I can't stand this guy. I'm not against profanity where appropriate but it's obvious that he does it (awkwardly) for shock value and to prove that he's on the "cutting edge." To me it's just lame and bush league.

[clevelandchick]

So are you just as offended by Erica Jong calling Taibbi a 'motherfucker'?

[larry278]

To HP editors: How long are you going to use HP to be the arena for the Erica vs Matt pissing contest? Their petty feud belongs on day time or late night TV. If you must give them space on HP, limit each 1 to 500 words per blog; that is double what HP allows for comments. Maybe ALERT NET or some other progressive site will be willing to use their blogs if Matt & Erica are in long term snits at each other. The Erica vs Matt thing is now a Weapon of Mass Distraction. Let Matt & Erica take their feud to another site.
larry lynch

[LeoMarvin]

This feud does less damage than Hillary v Barack.