More Mush from Miss Marcotte
As you all know I am a big fan of Amanda Marcotte over at Pandagon.net and never miss an opportunity to say a few nice things about her or in support of her most recent endeavor. She recently published a book and is now doing book readings at feminist bookstores. (Feminist bookstore? Is that kind of like an adult bookstore but less “interesting” and staffed only with stern, matronly, man-hating lesbians? I don’t know either, but it sounds weird and slightly creepy.)
Her latest contribution to the world is a book titled It’s a Jungle Out There and undoubtedly contains a few swipes at misogyny and patriarchy which, if you didn’t already know, are Miss Marcotte’s two favorite words in the whole wide world. No word if the Infidel Sage made it into her book, but I did my best. So here are some highlights of the disgraced, former Edward’s blogger reading some selections from her new book. The lesson to be learned here is that we should all write a book and hock it on our website. There is no way that it could be worse than hers. Don’t believe me? Then be sure to listen to the clip. I do have some bad news to report to you though, I am still banned from Pandagon. Darn it.
Come out to a reading and support your local feminist bookstore
Uh, no thanks.
gurusteve
DFV the Scribe
Andre the Defiant
Wes
pg - your humble messenger
hairybeast
thompaine
Drowning Creek
OK, I actually bought a copy of the lovely Miss Marcotte’s book, for book review purposes. I have not finished it, and, in fact, put it down for several weeks, because, at least as far as I’ve gotten through it, it isn’t a very good book. It is written primarily in snark, which can be humorous in limited use, but 235 pages of snarkiness gets to be just plain boring.
I expected Miss Marcotte to flesh out her philosophy and beliefs, but have seen none of that.
Miss Marcotte’s primary themes are to decry sexism and promote feminism, but, at least through the first half of the book, neither term is defined. We are, I suppose, simply expected to know what she means — and are incompetant, sexist, misogynist pigs if we do not.
The book is simply an expansion of her blogging: an expansion in length, but not in depth. The people who already agree with her will probably think it a great book; the people who do not, won’t be persuaded.
Dana
15 May 08 at 2:06 pm
She does seem very one dimensional to me as well. A shallow, and not very deep, pond it would appear.
Dave - the Infidel Sage
15 May 08 at 11:04 pm
You guys can read that shit? Even liberal guys can’t stomach feminist writing unless it’s Nancy Friday.
Kudos. I am awed by your perseverance in the face of a stiff headwind.
Pangolin
16 May 08 at 2:16 am
Dana bought the book? Now there is a guy that dot’s every ‘I’ and crosses every ‘T’ when examining his ideological foes. You couldn’t pay me to read her book.
E the Wise
16 May 08 at 7:10 am
Dana and Amanda have a relationship from way back. He comments on her site routinely. She does not quite know what to do with our friend because he does two things - first he never ever gives offense, though he certainly has cause. Second he does do his research. Oh my, that he does.
For those of you who have not been to his site, I encourage you to visit. A person might very well disagree with Dana, but they can not say he is uninformed. He also is ALWAYS polite, which I find maddening.
I do not know where Dana finds the time to do all he does. He is very prolific with his posts and comments. His prodigious output is not limited to his site, and as E says puts it, “our humble blog”, but with at least a dozen more as far as I can tell. He also manages a fair size business and presides over a happy family. Me, well I take the Joe Walsh approach…”They say I’m lazy but it takes all my time.”
Miss Amanda is quite the bright shinny penny when it comes to intellect. The gal can write extremely well. Gay men lay down in awe of her snarking ability. She is also as a rule mean spirited and cruel. How Dana puts up with her is beyond me.
Having put a smile on Dana’s sun I do have to say he routinely drives me mad (Yes I know, who doesn’t?). I suspect he enjoys doing that very much. He is very much like Dave in many ways.
pg - your humble messenger
16 May 08 at 1:35 pm
Our humble messenger wrote:
Well, you see, my sainted mother, a Yankee from Maine, drummed manners into the heads of my sisters and me. She is, even as I type, leaning with her elbows on the split-rail fence that surrounds one of the clouds in heaven, watching her favorite son, and I know that I’ll hear about it if I am less than fastidious in the manners she taught us.
Mrs Pico’s mother is up there, too, sharing that same split-rail fence; I think that she might have been telling my sainted mother that I’m not really good enough for her daughter, despite the fact we’ve been married for 28 years, 11 months and 29 days.
Of course, it is true that extreme courtesy can be used as a weapon!
By the way: it seems that I got a new reader out of your comment above, a reader who does disagree with much of what I’ve written.
Dana
17 May 08 at 5:50 pm
E wisely wrote:
I even dot my js!
Regretably, in doing book reviews, it is necessary to actually read the books! Because I write notes in the margins as I read, I can’t just borrow them from the library. Thus, I’ve (slightly) enriched Al Gore (The Assault on Reason), Jimmy Carter (Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid), Joseph and Valerie Wilson, and Miss Marcotte.
Dana
17 May 08 at 5:55 pm
LOL! I am sorry I guess Dana. Doesn’t this pangolin remind you of a lite version of Phoenician in a time of Romans?
pg - your humble messenger
17 May 08 at 6:01 pm
In fact, to tout my own reviews, here is the review of The Assault on Reason, and these (Part 1, (Part 2, and (Conclusion) are the three parts of my review of Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid.
Hmmm, four links; this’ll probably hit the moderation queue!
Dana
17 May 08 at 6:03 pm
Pangolin is welcome, as are all. After all, it would be boring to speak only with those who always agreed!
Dana
17 May 08 at 6:05 pm
Besides, I have such fun with the Phoenician’s nom de guerre. Philistine in a Time of Israelites is one, as is Saxon in a Time of Normans.
Dana
17 May 08 at 6:06 pm