• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Cole is on a roll !

I was promised a recession.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

We still have time to mess this up!

Republicans do not pay their debts.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Maybe you would prefer that we take Joelle’s side in ALL CAPS?

In after Baud. Damn.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

T R E 4 5 O N

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Mobile Menu

  • Four Directions Montana
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2024 Elections
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2008 / Festival of Ideas

Festival of Ideas

by John Cole|  April 3, 20089:42 pm| 52 Comments

This post is in: Election 2008, Media, Blogospheric Navel-Gazing

FacebookTweetEmail

From L to R, Abbi, Matt, Ross, Terence, and Phillip

Just got back from an interesting panel about the impact of new media on the election, sponsored by the Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism at WVU as part of Journalism Week and the recurring Festival of Ideas. The only reason I mention this is because you might know some of the participants, who included Abbi Tatton from CNN, Big Media Matt and Ross Douthat from the Atlantic, Terrence Samuel from the WaPo’s theRoot.com, Phillip de Vellis (the guy who created the 1984/Hillary youtube video), and moderated by Michael Tomasky, who turns out to be a WVU grad. Ana Marie Cox was supposed to be there and was a no-show, as she was allegedly covering the McCain Biography tour. Personally, I think she was guttered at a bar downtown, because as anyone in Morgantown can tell you, Thursday is the big party night.

I won’t bore you with all the gory details, and a lot of it was clearly inside baseball that was over the heads of many of the students who were in the crowd, but I will go quickly through some of my thoughts:

1.) Abbi Tatton is very, very tiny, and desperately in need of a sandwich (although I can report that her ass was a topic of much discussion for several of the male students seated behind me). Her accent appears much more pronounced in person, and she is as pleasant in person as she is on camera.

2.) Big Media Matt looks exactly like he does in his profile, and exactly like he does on bloggingheadstv. He clearly was enjoying himself, and appears to really get along well with Ross Douthat.

3.) Ross reminded me less of a conservative writer than he did a sociology teacher who sleeps with his students. Think Donald Sutherland in Animal House. He really is quite interesting, and was the fastest with a quip and really seemed to “get” the topic at hand.

4.) Terence Samuel started off shaky, and at first didn’t seem to have much to offer on this topic as he really was, until recently a traditional journalist. Once he became more comfortable with the format, he had some interesting things to say.

5.) Phillip was the “coolest” one on the lot, and clearly was less of an academic/reporter than the others and someone you would expect to run into at work. I don’t mean that in a negative way, he just reminded me of my buddies in the Business school or guys who would go into advertising.

Overall, there was a great deal of discussion that will be really hard to summarize, but I will promise to link to it later once WVU has it prepared for digital media. One thing that was really interesting was the back to back display of the Yes, We Can Obama video and the John, He Is. The student body got hysterical, and Matt made a really interesting point. Both he and Phillip agreed that their first thoughts when they saw the yes, We Can video was “Great. Just what the Democrats need, to get all cozy with Hollywood.” But Matt then pointed out that this is such a self-selecting, bifurcated audience that the people who would be repulsed by the coziness with Hollywood figures probably won’t see the video anyway, because they don’t use the internet (somethign Ross reiterated later when he noted that “McCain appears to be going after the ‘crotchety people who don’t use the internet vote.'”).

At any rate, it was a lot of fun, and I wish I had had a chance to meet Matt, but I was chasing someone down to find out if the presentation would be put online, and when I finally got an answer and made my way back to the ballroom, they had left the stage. Oh, well.

As a side note, I became very self-conscious about my age as the presentation started to wind down. All of the students were murmuring (all the teachers out there know what I am talking about, when a large lecture class begins to collectively decide it is time for class to end), I could hear whispers about Red Bull and Vodka and “Ladies Night,” and it occurred to me that I may have been the only one in my area of the seating who was upset about it winding down, and that my exciting plans for the night were to go home and blog about blogging before watching BSG.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Want To Buy Better Media, Please Email Offers
Next Post: Wild Wild MidEast »

Reader Interactions

52Comments

  1. 1.

    br

    April 3, 2008 at 9:59 pm

    God, I couldn’t stop laughing at that caption.

    Terence and Phillip.

    Sorry.

  2. 2.

    matt

    April 3, 2008 at 10:05 pm

    Your impression of Ross killed me.

    Sounds like it was a lot of fun!

  3. 3.

    The Other Steve

    April 3, 2008 at 10:19 pm

    Sniff, nothing fun like that ever happens here.

  4. 4.

    Creature

    April 3, 2008 at 10:20 pm

    my exciting plans for the night were to go home and blog about blogging before watching BSG.

    Sounds like a plan to me.

  5. 5.

    incontrolados

    April 3, 2008 at 10:22 pm

    It’s ok John. Your readers, especially Jen, have made sport of me and I have made only a small effort to respond. Those of us who actually have professions will always get poked fun of.

    I read your post and hope you write more about what happened.

  6. 6.

    Walker

    April 3, 2008 at 10:25 pm

    So as a (political) blogger associated with WVU why weren’t you involved in this? Glennzilla gives you enough links that you aren’t unknown.

  7. 7.

    binky

    April 3, 2008 at 10:29 pm

    So as a (political) blogger associated with WVU why weren’t you involved in this?

    My thought exactly.

    Did you at least get into any discussion (says the Morgantown blogger who clearly didn’t make it to the event)?

  8. 8.

    John Cole

    April 3, 2008 at 10:30 pm

    So as a (political) blogger associated with WVU why weren’t you involved in this? Glennzilla gives you enough links that you aren’t unknown.

    I really try to keep my association with WVU pretty low profile.

    Plus, I say fuck a lot in my posts.

  9. 9.

    eponymous

    April 3, 2008 at 10:40 pm

    Ana Marie Cox was supposed to be there and was a no-show, as she was allegedly covering the McCain Biography tour. Personally, I think she was guttered at a bar downtown, because as anyone in Morgantown can tell you, Thursday is the big party night.

    Ah, Sunnyside – memories, memories…

  10. 10.

    Punchy

    April 3, 2008 at 10:44 pm

    Which one is you? Are you at the table?

  11. 11.

    Seitz

    April 3, 2008 at 10:47 pm

    I really try to keep my association with WVU pretty low profile.

    That’s especially obvious every time they play a football or basketball game.

  12. 12.

    rec

    April 3, 2008 at 10:49 pm

    br, whoever’s in charge of the panel seating is a genius.

    I doubt if they were able to recreate the brilliance of their last panel though.

  13. 13.

    jake

    April 3, 2008 at 10:50 pm

    it occurred to me that I may have been the only one in my area of the seating who was upset about it winding down, and that my exciting plans for the night were to go home and blog about blogging before watching BSG.

    This is a problem because … why?

    Sounds like the whole thing was a blast. I don’t suppose there was an event featuring a Jake Tapper pinata?

    Oh well. Looking forward to the post-mortem.

  14. 14.

    ithaqua

    April 3, 2008 at 11:17 pm

    1.) Abbi Tatton is very, very tiny, and desperately in need of a sandwich (although I can report that her ass was a topic of much discussion for several of the male students seated behind me). Her accent appears much more pronounced in person, and she is as pleasant in person as she is on camera.

    I notice that, for some reason, even though you talk about the actual performance of the four male panelists, all you can manage regarding Ms. Tatton is to sneer at her weight and talk about her ass. But she has a nice personality! I’m sure she would be delighted to know that you approve, even though you couldn’t, apparently, be bothered to actually listen to what a woman had to say.

    But perhaps pointing that out makes me one of the ‘Jane Hamshers of the left’ or a member of the ‘sanctimonious women’s studies set’. Ah well.

  15. 15.

    ithaqua

    April 3, 2008 at 11:20 pm

    Addendum: and not one word about the male panelists’ asses? Come on, throw us a bone here :P

  16. 16.

    Zuzu

    April 3, 2008 at 11:21 pm

    John Cole Says:

    Plus, I say fuck a lot in my posts.

    Ooh, I think you just drove up your Blog-O-Cuss Meter rating up from 0% to 0.0001%.

    Created by OnePlusYou

  17. 17.

    Phoebe

    April 3, 2008 at 11:23 pm

    Yeah that was kind of… sigh. Even if she had nothing of interest to say, you could have said so.

  18. 18.

    Zuzu

    April 3, 2008 at 11:24 pm

    Hey, where’d the link go?

    Trying again:

    The Blog-O-Cuss Meter – Do you cuss a lot in your blog or website?”>

  19. 19.

    John Cole

    April 3, 2008 at 11:34 pm

    I notice that, for some reason, even though you talk about the actual performance of the four male panelists, all you can manage regarding Ms. Tatton is to sneer at her weight and talk about her ass. But she has a nice personality! I’m sure she would be delighted to know that you approve, even though you couldn’t, apparently, be bothered to actually listen to what a woman had to say.

    But perhaps pointing that out makes me one of the ‘Jane Hamshers of the left’ or a member of the ‘sanctimonious women’s studies set’. Ah well.

    Hunh?

    Read the post again:

    1.) Abbi Tatton is very, very tiny, and desperately in need of a sandwich (although I can report that her ass was a topic of much discussion for several of the male students seated behind me). Her accent appears much more pronounced in person, and she is as pleasant in person as she is on camera.

    2.) Big Media Matt looks exactly like he does in his profile, and exactly like he does on bloggingheadstv. He clearly was enjoying himself, and appears to really get along well with Ross Douthat.

    3.) Ross reminded me less of a conservative writer than he did a sociology teacher who sleeps with his students. Think Donald Sutherland in Animal House. He really is quite interesting, and was the fastest with a quip and really seemed to “get” the topic at hand.

    4.) Terence Samuel started off shaky, and at first didn’t seem to have much to offer on this topic as he really was, until recently a traditional journalist. Once he became more comfortable with the format, he had some interesting things to say.

    5.) Phillip was the “coolest” one on the lot, and clearly was less of an academic/reporter than the others and someone you would expect to run into at work. I don’t mean that in a negative way, he just reminded me of my buddies in the Business school or guys who would go into advertising.

    Christ. I discussed the physical aspects of everyone of them. And for the record, it was not me discussing Abbi’s ass, it was the jackasses behind me who never shut up the entire presentation. As a side note, this is the first time I have ever, ever been chastised for noting I thought someone needed to put on weight.

  20. 20.

    John Cole

    April 3, 2008 at 11:38 pm

    Yeah that was kind of… sigh. Even if she had nothing of interest to say, you could have said so.

    What do you think this meant:

    she is as pleasant in person as she is on camera.

    She comes across as a nice friendly person on camera, and she comes across that way in person. How is that sexist to note that?

    As to her commentary, it really wasn’t that interesting to me because this was a panel on blogging, and she was there to discuss how she discusses bloggers, and it was sort of meta and dull. Matt and Ross were actually discussing blogging. Terence and Phillip were interesting, but not really bloggers (Terence is a msm denizen with a WaPo “blog,” Philip is a hired gun).

    You guys are really going out of your way to be offended about this.

  21. 21.

    John Cole

    April 3, 2008 at 11:44 pm

    Addendum: and not one word about the male panelists’ asses? Come on, throw us a bone here :P

    None of the guys behind me mentioned it, oddly enough. I did however learn there is a drink special at a bar named the “lizard” and that one of their geography classes “sucked hard.”

  22. 22.

    ithaqua

    April 3, 2008 at 11:57 pm

    To expand on my midnightish feminist rant:

    Abbi Tatton. The bit about the sandwich stuck with me, because it so typifies the misogynist male tendency to shame women for their eating habits – look at the tabloids and gossip rags, where half the covers are taken up with photos of various female celebrities and criticisms for being ‘too fat’ or ‘too thin’, and the epidemic of eating disorders among women, especially young women… argh. Getting past that, though, you only talk about Ms. Tatton as an object, only mentioning her passive qualities – her appearance, her personality, her accent – rather than anything she actually did at the conference. She could have been a hostess serving drinks for all we could tell from you.

    On the other hand, for the other four you talk about active qualities and their active contributions to the panel: Ross and Terence had ‘interesting’ things to say, Ross gets the topic right off, Mat, Phillip and Ross made some good points about the Obama and McCain ads… it’s like you were actually listening to those guys, whereas when Abbi opened her mouth you started thinking about how sexy her accent was or something similarly dismissive and cavemanesque.

  23. 23.

    J. Michael Neal

    April 4, 2008 at 12:10 am

    Skipping the rest of it . . . business school? I had really hoped all this time that you were teaching a serious academic discipline. Maybe my view is skewed since I’m now taking accounting classes and my fellow students would have been eaten alive in any of my math department classes, but, . . .

    Business school?

    I have three serious problems with business school classes. Keep in mind that I’m at the University of Minnesota, and the Carlson School of Management is considered one of the top 30 business schools in the country. In ascending order:

    1) The business school pisses me off, because they make it difficult for anyone who isn’t registered as a business school student to register for their classes. Never mind that they have any number of graduation requirements that are classes from other schools. When it suits them, they prefer to pretend that there isn’t any other parts of the university.

    2) Maybe it’s just because I was raised in an academic household (LS&A, University of Michigan), but I’m appalled by selling the naming rights to everything that’s nailed down and half of the overhead projectors. A university isn’t a business. It should maintain more independence and distance than by making me go to class in the 3M Industries Classrooom, L-118.

    3) Christ, it’s a top 30 business school. I shouldn’t be able to get by on 15 minutes of study per hour in class per week. Business schools have bought far too heavily into the idea of students as customers. Of course, there’s no way to please your customers like giving them good grades for very little work.

    My professor in Soviet Politics and Government (and the title alone should give you an idea of how long ago I’m talking about) said that students are the ultimate proof that economists are wrong about what consumers want, since they want the least education possible for their tuition dollars.

  24. 24.

    John Cole

    April 4, 2008 at 12:13 am

    To expand on my midnightish feminist rant:

    Abbi Tatton. The bit about the sandwich stuck with me, because it so typifies the misogynist male tendency to shame women for their eating habits – look at the tabloids and gossip rags, where half the covers are taken up with photos of various female celebrities and criticisms for being ‘too fat’ or ‘too thin’, and the epidemic of eating disorders among women, especially young women… argh. Getting past that, though, you only talk about Ms. Tatton as an object, only mentioning her passive qualities – her appearance, her personality, her accent – rather than anything she actually did at the conference. She could have been a hostess serving drinks for all we could tell from you

    I really am not sure how to defend specific comments that are in no way sexist when you shoehorn them in to generalizations of sexist behavior. The first three people I discussed were female, male, and male, I discussed what they looked like and then their personality, and from that, I am accused of sexism. I even discussed them in the order they were seated (not that that matters. Had I changed the order and discussed her last, you would have accused me of having so little interest in her my mention of her was an afterthought. Had I sandwiched her in between the men, you would accuse me of trying to obscure her within a wall of masculinity).

    Abbi is rail thin and looks much skinnier in person than she does on tv, but the guys behind me loved her. I then noted that she seemed pleasant.

    Matt looks like he does in his profile (and, like me, could probably stand to lose a few pounds. Perhaps that is why the guys behind me were mum.). I then noted he seemed to be enjoying himself.

    Ross looked like a sociology…

    Never mind. I have a feeling this is pointless.

    On the other hand, for the other four you talk about active qualities and their active contributions to the panel: Ross and Terence had ‘interesting’ things to say, Ross gets the topic right off, Mat, Phillip and Ross made some good points about the Obama and McCain ads… it’s like you were actually listening to those guys, whereas when Abbi opened her mouth you started thinking about how sexy her accent was or something similarly dismissive and cavemanesque.

    No, I didn’t. I didn’t mention a thing said by Terence, and I only stated that Phillip agreed with Matt. I guess that just proves that in addition to being sexist, I am also racist and biased against people with French-sounding surnames.

    Additionally, I specifically DID in fact say something about Abbi’s personality- I said she comes across just like she does on television. She didn’t discuss any ideas, she merely gave a rundown of what she does, which is report what bloggers say. Hell, she was even the only one to refuse to give a prediction about the race in her closing statement (all the others, even Ross, predicted Obama would win the Presidency). I can include that in the write-up to avoid further accusations of sexism, but it seems to add little.

    One last thing- nowhere did I state her accent was “sexy.” I said it was far more pronounced in person than on television.

    Really, you are reaching here.

  25. 25.

    John Cole

    April 4, 2008 at 12:17 am

    Business school?

    Now I am getting slammed because when I was in grad school I had friends getting an MBA?

    I quit. I am off to bed.

  26. 26.

    BP

    April 4, 2008 at 12:57 am

    Out of curiosity, what are you studying at the U JMN?A couple people in my program who’ve taken classes at the Carlson had the same complaints. My own prejudice against MBAs was when I realized that the golf class I took as an undergrad was three quarters business school students; they can’t have been working very hard at all.

  27. 27.

    cbear

    April 4, 2008 at 12:58 am

    typifies the misogynist male tendency….dismissive and cavemanesque.

    Jesus Christ lady, get a cat or something.
    Better yet, get yourself a male cat and have him neutered one snip at a time over the course of his lifetime. You’ll feel much more empowered and less like a victim.

  28. 28.

    J. Michael Neal

    April 4, 2008 at 1:08 am

    Now I am getting slammed because when I was in grad school I had friends getting an MBA?

    My apologies. I misread you, and thought you meant that you teach in the business school. I take back what I said. About you. I don’t take back anything I said about business schools in general, or the one here.

  29. 29.

    Pb

    April 4, 2008 at 1:13 am

    But perhaps pointing that out makes me one of the ‘Jane Hamshers of the left’ or a member of the ‘sanctimonious women’s studies set’.

    Wow, old school. If your scars from the Pie Wars over at the G.O.S. are still acting up, then that probably is what it means. Well, that and the fact that you managed to fill in so much sexism from such a paucity of information. It is similarly obvious from your handle that you are a giant, lonely snow-monster.

  30. 30.

    J. Michael Neal

    April 4, 2008 at 1:15 am

    Out of curiosity, what are you studying at the U JMN?

    Right now, I’m taking accounting. A more mindlessly simple subject is hard to imagine. I’ve also taken Finance classes. The professor I took those from admitted that he thought the guidelines he was given for the undergraduate classes were lame. That’s probably why he’s moved on to the Chicago Fed.

    I should give a lot of credit to that prof, though. When a former student asked him if he had anyone in his classes who he would recommend, I’m the one he singled out. As much as I mistakenly tried to ridicule our host, my impression is that the problem with business schools isn’t the faculty so much as the administration. The Financial Accounting teacher I have now seems to be very good, though he is *exactly* what Central Casting would provide if you asked them to give you an accountant with no sense of humor.

  31. 31.

    JGabriel

    April 4, 2008 at 1:22 am

    John Cole:

    I quit. I am off to bed.

    Damn. Just when we were going to ask you your thoughts on your BSG viewing.

    .

  32. 32.

    bend

    April 4, 2008 at 1:57 am

    God damnit, I love this sight, John!

  33. 33.

    Zuzu

    April 4, 2008 at 2:39 am

    ithaqua:

    As one feminist to another…please, lighten up.

  34. 34.

    Tom in Texas

    April 4, 2008 at 3:08 am

    Ithaqua:

    John wasn’t dehumanizing women.

    These fucking animals were.

    That dawn, naked, covered in blood and feces, bleeding from her anus, she found a US soldier she did not know lying naked in the bed next to her: his gun lay on the floor beside the bed, she could not rouse him and all she could remember of the night before was screaming and screaming as the soldier anally penetrated her while a colleague who worked for defense contractor KBR held her hand–but instead of helping her, as she had hoped, he jammed his penis in her mouth.

    Over the next few weeks Smith would be told to keep quiet about the incident by a KBR supervisor. The camp’s military liaison officer also told her not to speak about what had happened, she says. And she would follow these instructions. “Because then, all of a sudden, if you’ve done exactly what you’ve been instructed not to do–tell somebody–then you’re in danger,” Smith says.

    Your anger is misguided.

  35. 35.

    dcBill

    April 4, 2008 at 6:01 am

    Thursday is party night at universities everywhere. I have recently rediscovered Thursday nights as a serendipitous result of telecommuting on Fridays.

    Is the Underground Railroad still open in Morgantown? I played there a few times in the ’80s with the Young Caucasians. Great dump.

  36. 36.

    merl allen

    April 4, 2008 at 6:11 am

    Wasn’t Ronald Reagan a Hollywood actor?

  37. 37.

    John Cole

    April 4, 2008 at 6:33 am

    Is the Underground Railroad still open in Morgantown?

    Yes. It is called 1-2-3 Pleasant Street now.

  38. 38.

    ithaqua

    April 4, 2008 at 7:14 am

    Tom in Texas:

    “Better than a rapist” is a pretty low bar to set for Prof. Cole, don’t you think?

  39. 39.

    John Cole

    April 4, 2008 at 7:20 am

    “Better than a rapist” is a pretty low bar to set for Prof. Cole, don’t you think?

    I assert I have done nothing wrong. You have done nothing but make charges and conveniently ignore any response from me.

    You can kindly piss off.

    And for those of you who are unaware, I am not a Professor. I go by John, and quit trying to drag my work into your bullshit. Now do you all understand why I keep myself low profile at WVU?

  40. 40.

    Mary

    April 4, 2008 at 8:07 am

    ithaqua, that MRA fuckwit over at Pandagon still needs his ass kicked. John doesn’t.

    Or are you using good old “nope” as your role model in how to argue in very bad faith?

    Fuckwitte.

  41. 41.

    Crusty Dem

    April 4, 2008 at 8:14 am

    seriously, Ithaqua, get a fucking life. You’re a twit. And comparing yourself to Jane Hamsher? Bitch, please. More like the stereotypical fifty year old women’s studies prof.

    And I bet you suck at math.

    See, that’s sexist.

  42. 42.

    John Cole

    April 4, 2008 at 8:20 am

    Hey- Let’s all calm down here. There is no need for a pile on. She thought I had said something sexist, I vigorously defended myself.

    There is no need to turn this into something really nasty and ugly.

  43. 43.

    ithaqua

    April 4, 2008 at 8:40 am

    John, thanks for the support. I apologize for ‘dragging your work into it’ – I actually did think you were a professor, for some reason, and so thought it was the appropriate mode of address. I stand corrected (on that, at least, heh heh).

    To clarify the “better than a rapist” snark: conservatives have been saying for years and years that liberals shouldn’t critize the war in Iraq, because Saddam was worse; that feminists need to shut up about misogyny at home (and support the war) because Muslim women have it worse, that American blacks should be grateful for slavery because blacks in Africa have it so much worse… the “hey, look over there” argument is annoying and irrelevant and I wish liberals wouldn’t use it either.

    For what it’s worth, I don’t think anyone on this threat – including you – is being deliberately anti-woman. In American society, male thought is inherently, instinctively misogynist – for example, a forceful male speaker is seen as authoritative and commanding, a forceful female speaker is seen as bitchy (exhibit A: Hillary Clinton) – and I think it’s important to point out places where this unconscious misogyny is devaluing and objectifying women, even if the poster (you) isn’t doing it deliberately and is in fact offended by the very idea.

    I imagine that, for a while, you’ll make a conscious effort to mention women where you’d have ignored them before (as in your follow-up post to this one) just to head off complaints from people like me. Which is fine. Maybe it’ll become a habit :)

    And no, you don’t get to tell women how they should eat – would you have looked at a man her size and thought ‘that guy needs a sammich’? The idea that men have the right to pass judgment on women’s bodies is just another symptom of this inescapable misogynist taint.

    Also, I’m a guy, in case you were wondering :)

  44. 44.

    Walker

    April 4, 2008 at 8:58 am

    And for those of you who are unaware, I am not a Professor.

    That is one of those inside-baseball distinctions. Those of us in academia know that students call every single instructor “professor” out of habit. The P-title distinction is something that typically only matters in the department.

    Plus don’t you all have a instructor advancement track? One of the things that irked me about the Obama professor flap is that he wasn’t just an instructor, he was a Senior Lecturer. In many places, that officially counts as faculty and not staff. Hell, in my department, Senior Lecturers can sit on departmental tenure discussions. The only difference between a Senior Lecturer and P-title is how their job is evaluated (e.g. teaching vs. research).

  45. 45.

    Crusty Dem

    April 4, 2008 at 9:03 am

    My apologies John, the “better than a rapist” line was way too much for me to hold back. FWIW, that was a heavily edited post. I think the original wouldve broken the blog-O-cuss meter.

  46. 46.

    HyperIon

    April 4, 2008 at 12:42 pm

    My apologies. I misread you, and thought you meant that you teach in the business school.

    IMO Communications majors are as lame as B schoolers.
    So you might want to reconsider the apology.

    students are the ultimate proof that economists are wrong about what consumers want, since they want the least education possible for their tuition dollars

    yeah, before the consumer model of education drove me out of the field, i got really tired of students basically saying: “i need to get a piece of paper so i can get a job.” i always countered with: “why don’t you LEARN something and then demonstrate competence? that approach worked for me.”

    but i think using the word “work” scared them off.

  47. 47.

    John Cole

    April 4, 2008 at 1:32 pm

    IMO Communications majors are as lame as B schoolers.
    So you might want to reconsider the apology.

    I have noticed a lot of people in my field are insufferable pricks. It appears many of them are over-compensating because they feel inadequate about their chosen field- a bastard step-child to both English and Psychology.

    And if you really want to see horribly awkward and incompetent communication, go to our national conference (NCA). It really drives home the fact that those who can’t, teach.

  48. 48.

    HyperIon

    April 4, 2008 at 2:20 pm

    I have noticed a lot of people in my field are insufferable pricks.

    my criticism is around brain-power, not personality.

  49. 49.

    Krista

    April 4, 2008 at 2:35 pm

    I have noticed a lot of people in my field are insufferable pricks.

    Hey, that’s not nice!

    /hurt voice

  50. 50.

    pseudonymous in nc

    April 4, 2008 at 3:16 pm

    Her accent appears much more pronounced in person

    Probably because she’s extra-careful to moderate it when there’s a camera pointing at her. Most English regional accents are rarely-heard in US media; more than a few times, I’ve seen English people with broad northern accents subtitled on American TV.

  51. 51.

    Phoebe

    April 4, 2008 at 9:53 pm

    Don’t freak, John, I’m not calling for your head on a platter, and I don’t think the original complainer was, either. I understand if the largest impression she made on you was her physical appearance, and that:
    “As to her commentary, it really wasn’t that interesting to me because this was a panel on blogging, and she was there to discuss how she discusses bloggers, and it was sort of meta and dull.”
    But if you’d weighed in on the content of her contribution like that in the original post [seeming pleasant is not sufficient], there would be no hands raised, I think it’s safe to say. Certainly speaking for myself anyway.

    Again – not calling for your head on a platter or pike – it would just be nice if you talked about what the chick said, as long as you’re talking about what the others said. Even if what the chick said was boring.
    AND I know that I wouldn’t care if you’d singled out a male panelist to overlook in this manner. But when it’s just the one chick, that gets the rest of us chix’ feathers in a wee ruffle because – it happens all the time. Really. And it’s depressing. Just fyi and all.

Comments are closed.

Trackbacks

  1. Balloon Juice says:
    April 4, 2008 at 8:06 am

    […] Festival of Ideas […]

Primary Sidebar

Recent Comments

  • zhena gogolia on Henry Would Like His Lunch Right Now, Please (Open Thread) (Apr 15, 2024 @ 2:48pm)
  • lowtechcyclist on Henry Would Like His Lunch Right Now, Please (Open Thread) (Apr 15, 2024 @ 2:47pm)
  • WaterGirl on Henry Would Like His Lunch Right Now, Please (Open Thread) (Apr 15, 2024 @ 2:45pm)
  • Sister Golden Bear on Henry Would Like His Lunch Right Now, Please (Open Thread) (Apr 15, 2024 @ 2:44pm)
  • Frank Wilhoit on Take the Fucking Win (Apr 15, 2024 @ 2:44pm)

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Balloon Juice Meetups!

All Meetups
Talk of Meetups – Meetup Planning
Proposed BJ meetups list from frosty

Fundraising 2023-24

Wis*Dems Supreme Court + SD-8
Virginia House Races
Four Directions – Montana
Worker Power AZ
Four Directions – Arizona
Four Directions – Nevada

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
Positive Climate News
War in Ukraine
Cole’s “Stories from the Road”
Classified Documents Primer

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)

Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Balloon Juice for Ukraine

Donate

Twitter / Spoutible

Balloon Juice (Spoutible)
WaterGirl (Spoutible)
TaMara (Spoutible)
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
ActualCitizensUnited

Political Action 2024

Postcard Writing Information

Balloon Juice for Four Directions AZ

Donate

Balloon Juice for Four Directions NV

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2024 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!