Notorious NIG
Scott Eric Kaufman, in one of the more subtlely humorous posts I’ve seen all night:
As happens fortnightly, I feel inspired to denigrate an Ann Althouse post. Many would read it, snigger, then take in the local nightlife. To me, her stupidity is unignorable. I witness it and cannot help but call shenanigans. A nightmarish enigma who somehow finagled tenure from a respectable institution, Althouse considers herself the calm, reasonable voice of liberal feminism. If someone wears a nightie within a square mile of Bill Clinton, her dulcet tones denounce the hussy with benign force. She is not one to niggle with piddling arguments, so when she took her nightstick out this weekend.
Sorry. Can’t do it. Can’t take it anymore.
Am paralyzed by the stupid.
I cannot be too niggardly in my praise of this post. It’s the funniest set of quotes since Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap. When you see humor like this, you know the end is nigh.
To be fair, I think Althouse knows it’s a sham and:
1 – is playing with her “vortex”, i.e. her unique ability to draw attention.
2 – is trying to draw out left-wing hypocrites who will be 100 times as sensitive to alleged “hidden racism” as soon as McCain starts making ads and otherwise speaking out against Obama. She’s doing John McCain a big favor with this post, and she knows it.
In light of that, we can’t criticize her as being a dupe. She’s a performance artist, and her post is a sublime piece of performance art.
Daryl Herbert (4ecd4c) — 3/1/2008 @ 10:30 pmYeah, but do you get Scott’s post?
As I said in the first sentence, it’s subtle.
Patterico (4bda0b) — 3/1/2008 @ 10:33 pmI just noticed that if you’re having a hard time getting it, you can click on the word “context” at the end of his post for a pretty strong hint.
I hadn’t seen that before.
Patterico (4bda0b) — 3/1/2008 @ 10:35 pmI thought about calling this post “
Patterico (4bda0b) — 3/1/2008 @ 10:36 pmNotoriousUbiquitous NIG.”I got it. I even snegroed out loud.
nk (7b0075) — 3/1/2008 @ 10:41 pmI don’t know where to benig, er begin, commenting.
JVW (85f15c) — 3/1/2008 @ 10:47 pmYes, I got SEK’s post, before I posted my first comment.
In this election, there is going to be:
1 – Blatant race-baiting
2 – fair & honest debate
3 – things very close to the border, where the listeners will be unsure as to whether they were intended as racist
When #1 happens, people (rightly) condemn it
When #2 happens, it goes by mostly uncondemned
But when #3 happens, the anti-racists jump up and down screaming “racism” and “hidden racism” and “code words,” and the rest of us are just confused. Then the inevitable backlash occurs, where we say “you’re crazy; there’s no racism there.” Then they accuse us of being apologists for racism and both sides dig in their heels further.
An example of #3 happening is the “Fancy Ford” commercial in Tennessee. Some felt it was racist; others thought it was innocent and the Ford supporters were using racism as a weapon. Either way, it resulted in a bit of blowback on those crying racism, and Corker won the election.
Smart conservative dirty tricks operatives aren’t going to aim for #1 in this election. They will aim for #3.
This will only fuel paranoia in the people looking for any sign of racism, however subtle.
Althouse is a genius to come up with something so facially fraudulent that will nonetheless define how lefties are able to react to perceived racism on the part of McCain supporters.
Daryl Herbert (4ecd4c) — 3/1/2008 @ 11:46 pmI cannot be too niggardly in my praise of this post.
You can’t praise it faintly enough?
Serenity Now (b08c67) — 3/2/2008 @ 12:04 amwe are the knights who say “ni.” good job there.
assistant devil's advocate (3feb57) — 3/2/2008 @ 12:05 amAny way to fit Joe Wilson and Niger into this post?
DRJ (d8934e) — 3/2/2008 @ 12:22 amI read Althouse pretty regularly, but this one was off the deep end. It made me think of this New Republic article.
Oh, and I have to reproduce a comment that one reader posted over on Althouse’s blog. Same humour. (written by Gahrie)
Joe M. (5d215f) — 3/2/2008 @ 12:39 amIt is not racism, just expediency. With such little notice before filming, it was easier for Hillary’s staff to locate PJs with “NIG” than “HUSSEIN.”
Perfect Sense (b6ec8c) — 3/2/2008 @ 2:01 amI read Althouse regularly, but she’s been teetering on the precipice of stupid for the last year or so. First it was the “federalism is code for racism!” post that turned into a blogwar. About a week ago, she posted some article about how Obama’s reaction to the McCain eligibility issue was brilliant and would get him lots of support. Then this.
I suggest that it’s time for her to take a nice, long sabbatical, far, far, far away from a university campus, academics, or students. She badly needs to get back in touch with normal, sane human beings.
rightwingprof (fbb932) — 3/2/2008 @ 5:42 amThanks Joe M.
I’m a regular over here too…..
gahrie (5ae14f) — 3/2/2008 @ 6:55 amCommenter #1: It is naughty to suggest that Ms. Althouse ever plays with her vortex. If you know she does, you should be polite enough not to mention it and if you do not know that she does, you have no business speculating.
Person of Choler (10e1bc) — 3/2/2008 @ 10:06 amI see it all so clearly!
It IS “Ni”! As in “The Knights Who Say “Ni!”
And what did they want? A Shrubbery!
And what is a shrubbery composed of?
Bushes! It’s a Bush conspiracy, of course!
Obviously a ‘Rough Republican Attack Machine’ infiltration of an innocent womyn’s campaign.
It’s all so clear…
Anon 1:50 (1a1e3f) — 3/2/2008 @ 2:15 pmThat was a bit of a stretch. The analysis of the meaning behind The Sopranos final episode was much more believable. For those with grown kids you may remember when the movie Pocahantas was supposed to have some kind of suggestive message woven in one scene.
Think I’ll go listen to Stairway to Heaven backwards and ponder the mysteries of the universe…
voiceofreason2 (6a968b) — 3/2/2008 @ 4:30 pmAs late as 2007, when HRC was still the inevitable Demo nominee, the MSM stood by (as it has for over five years) while John and Teresa Heinz Kerry, the DNC, and her husband got away with lying about GOP Congressman Saxby Chambliss’s 2002 TV ads, saying that they smeared the patriotism of the defeated Rep. Max Cleland. Teh-ray-zah even told syncophantic CBS News “reporter” Byron Pitts that even after marrying John Kerry, she only left the GOP and registered as a Democrat out of disgust about the Chambliss ad.
Here is the actual Chambliss TV spot, posted on YouTube by “SoThisIsWashington,” outed by ABC News investigative reporter Brian Ross as being the Democratic National Committee’s opposition research department. The subject of the spot is Cleland’s votes on the formation of the Department of Homeland Security, and does not address his “patriotism” whatsoever. The commercial clearly does not, as is commonly alleged, “morph,” “feature,” or “compare” Cleland alongside either bin Laden or Saddam Hussein, and even if it did, the presumption of such theories is that the electorate in Georgia is too stupid to know the difference between the three of them.
This is yet another example of Hillary being treated as if she is a Republican now that she’s the only thing standing in the way of the most leftist Demo POTUS candidate since 1972. She’s getting the “RATS” treatment (which, you may remember, was on the front page of the New York Times in 2004).
FWIW: I am a black man who grew up when you could say what we now refer to as “the n-word” on primetime TV for a laugh. Here’s YouTube evidence: Audio of Sanford & Son begins @ 1:30; the rest of it is silly and unwatchable.
L.N. Smithee (d1de1b) — 3/3/2008 @ 1:00 pm