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
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.
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
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.
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!
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.
Erica?
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.
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!
You are a typical media type in having that sort of reaction.
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.
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...
larry lynch