Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

We will not go back.

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

If you’re gonna whine, it’s time to resign!

Let there be snark.

I really should read my own blog.

No Kings: Americans standing in the way of bad history saying “Oh, Fuck No!”

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Also, are you sure you want people to rate your comments?

75% of people clapping liked the show!

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

You are here: Home / The Manly Men of the Right

The Manly Men of the Right

by | 210 Comments

This post is in: ,

This should be fun:

Men who are physically strong are more likely to take a right wing political stance, while weaker men are inclined to support the welfare state, according to a new study.

Researchers discovered political motivations may have evolutionary links to physical strength.

Men’s upper-body strength predicts their political opinions on economic redistribution, according to the research.

And as we learned in 2012, Nate Silver has a lispy effeminate voice, so his stats couldn’t possibly be right. Also too:

Kevin-Williamson

I had a genuinely new experience at the theater tonight: I was thrown out.

The show was Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, which was quite good and which I recommend. The audience, on the other hand, was horrible — talking, using their phones, and making a general nuisance of themselves. It was bad enough that I seriously considered leaving during the intermission, something I’ve not done before. The main offenders were two parties of women of a certain age, the sad sort with too much makeup and too-high heels, and insufficient attention span for following a two-hour musical. But my date spoke with the theater management during the intermission, and they apologetically assured us that the situation would be remedied.

It was not. The lady seated to my immediate right (very close quarters on bench seating) was fairly insistent about using her phone. I asked her to turn it off. She answered: “So don’t look.” I asked her whether I had missed something during the very pointed announcements to please turn off your phones, perhaps a special exemption granted for her. She suggested that I should mind my own business.

So I minded my own business by utilizing my famously feline agility to deftly snatch the phone out of her hand and toss it across the room, where it would do no more damage. She slapped me and stormed away to seek managerial succor. Eventually, I was visited by a black-suited agent of order, who asked whether he might have a word.

Let the masculinity of that salmon shirt and scarlet kerchief wash over you while you wonder what is wrong with America when a dominant conservative male can’t slap a bitch around during a showing of Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812.

Reader Interactions

210Comments

  3. 3.

    YellowJournalism

    my famously feline agility to deftly snatch the phone out of her hand and toss it across the room

    That part cracks me up for so many reasons. Who the hell describes themselves that way?

    (I don’t blame him for being annoyed, even of he did go a little far. To be honest, I may have applauded him.)

  6. 6.

    YellowJournalism

    And does that study include all the old men in scooters riding around at Tea Party rallies?

  8. 8.

    Violet

    I want to smack the smirk right off of that man’s face.

    a black-suited agent of order,

    Normal people refer to such folks as ushers.

  9. 9.

    Forked Tongue

    This is the same Kevin Williamson who said Romney should totes brag about his wealth because in primeval nature he’d be the alpha male with his pick of the harem.

  10. 10.

    srv

    Just reading that excerpt leaves me wanting to vote Republican and look in the mirror flexing my guns.

  12. 12.

    Omnes Omnibus

    There is a saying my dad tosses out every once in a while: Work with your brain or work with your back.

  15. 15.

    Redshift

    @YellowJournalism:

    (I don’t blame him for being annoyed, even of he did go a little far. To be honest, I may have applauded him.)

    Assuming it actually happened, and he’s not just telling his fantasy version of the incident and pretending it really happened.

  16. 16.

    Sir Nose'D

    I may be a sissy center-left wing girly-man, but I am pretty sure I can still do more pull-ups in one hour (current record = 80) than any right-wing pundit or commentator.

  17. 17.

    jl

    And the clueless Mail illustrates this article with Arnold, recent King of Gaulwvvfawnia, the communist impostor hated by the real he-man men of the CA GOP?

    But, I believe the research. After hitting the gym and training myself to do 16 pull-ups, I noticed I was strangely drawn to copies of Atlas Shrugged, even though Ayn Rand and all she stood for had heretofore disgusted me.

    When I was a weakly low upper body strength girlie man, no one would notice me, so I used my weak ass feline agility to swipe stuff on the sly. Now I yell and push people and just take whatever I want.

    Like now, I go down the farm, and I’m hungry, eff it, I’ll just take a bite out of a cow. I like raw meat now.

  18. 18.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    Men who wear Pampers are more likely to take a right wing political stance.

  22. 22.

    Cap'n Phealy

    Aarhus University? I think I’ve heard their fight song. Aren’t they in the middle of the street?

  24. 24.

    Amir Khalid

    @JGabriel:
    Wrong pic of Arnold. They shoulda used one of him oiled up and in his posing briefs, hoisting a Mr Olympia trophy.

  25. 25.

    Pooh

    Funnily, as I’ve gotten more into strength training in the last few years, the farther left I get politically, in a somewhat linear relationship with my deadlift PR. STUDY REFUTED, BITCHES111!

  26. 26.

    Haydnseek

    Your DATE spoke to the theater manager? Nice job, Cole. You don’t know a fucking thing about women, do you? Rosie doesn’t count.

  27. 27.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    This reminds me of the time Richie Sparklepants Lowry said something similar, so Al Franken (20 years older and having not too long before having had back surgery) challenged Richie to a wrestling match.

  31. 31.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Redshift:

    It’s a huge assumption that the incident was accurately related by Williamson. He’s probably leaving out a lot of detail that, if known, would make his ejection from the theater seem to be perfectly reasonable to the average person.

    Anyone writing for National Socialist Review is a congenital liar in the first place, so there’s that.

  32. 32.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    Sorry to disagree John but he didn’t “slap a bitch around” he took the phone of an entitled bitch who thought that the theater rules applied to everyone but her to the detriment of all of her fellow theater goers. I would’nt have taken her phone, I would have called an usher to throw her ass out.

  34. 34.

    Hunter Gathers

    @ranchandsyrup:

    Has anyone ever seen Kevin Williamson and Batman in the same place at the same time?

    I have. He referred to himself as the ‘Boy Wonder’. As I was walking away I heard the Dark Knight muttering something about him being the last sidekick from RentBoy he’ll ever employ.

  36. 36.

    eemom

    I’m not conservative, male, or physically strong, but I might have done that with the woman’s phone. Fucking asshole.

  38. 38.

    Bill

    This part is particularly ‘manly’, “But my date spoke with the theater management during the intermission, …”

    Not.

  40. 40.

    eemom

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    I would’nt have taken her phone, I would have called an usher to throw her ass out.

    Also too, he says his date complained and they didn’t do anything about it.

    If he’s telling the truth, he’s being condemned here only because he’s a man and a conservative asshole.

  42. 42.

    LT

    I was following this dipshit last night. He is literally being hailed as the most manly hero since the Wolverine dudes.

    I pray that woman presses charges.

  43. 43.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    He said he had already complained about people using phones in the theater earlier, and management said it would be dealt with.

    This is what disturbs me about this account of it. Because he continues on as if nothing happened about his earlier complaint, but HE got ejected when he took an aggressive action to deal with the chatty on the phone woman.

    The entire story reeks of fabrication.

  45. 45.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @Pooh: As I said I would have called an usher and had him tell her to either turn off her phone or leave. People who insist on using phones in theater or cinemas are assholes.

  46. 46.

    JGabriel

    cathyx:

    What about right wing women? Do they have big muscles too?

    Mail Online:

    However, the researchers found no link between upper-body strength and redistribution opinions among women.

  47. 47.

    NotMax

    Many, many things on the internet, but shirtless photos of Karl Marx among them so no way to pigeonhole him by pecs.

  50. 50.

    NotMax

    Ack! Publishus Prematurus.

    #47: but shirtless photos of Karl Marx not among them

  52. 52.

    Dissatisfied Customer

    That, at the very least, is assault. Possibly aggravated assault.

    These jagoffs have muscles, all right. In their heads.

  54. 54.

    ChrisNYC

    This guy Williamson is clearly a fantastic date. “You free Saturday? I’ll show you what I do to those DAMN FUCKING LOSER SLIMEBALLS who turn without signalling. Two words baby. Crow bar.”

  55. 55.

    LT

    If it had been a dude – no way he grabs the phone.

    No way in hell. This is Jonah Goldberg style courage.

  56. 56.

    bemused

    It’s the brains, not the brawn with “manly men of the right”, meatheads.

  57. 57.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @JGabriel: I beleive there is a study noting the strong correlation between helmet hair and right wing views among women. I’ll see if I can find the link.

  58. 58.

    cathyx

    @LT: Not many people are going to feel sympathy for the woman. I don’t. But we are only get one side of the event. I’ll bet it didn’t happen exactly like that.

  59. 59.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    A Real Conservative would have incited someone else to take the woman’s phone away.

  60. 60.

    brashieel

    I’ve never known anyone to actually snatch someone else’s phone and break it. Mostly because it’s a good way to get arrested and/or assaulted.

    That said, I’ve also never known an internet tough guy to actually have any balls in RL, so I assume this story was a work of fiction.

  63. 63.

    ? Martin

    Article failed to mention that all of the conservative physical strength is contained in the right wrist.

  65. 65.

    LT

    @cathyx: We don’t have her side in how she was behaving either.

    I get the feeling this happened pretty much as he said. The part about the ushers not wanting him to leave, woman possibly pressing charges made it ring true.

  66. 66.

    cathyx

    It’s like the first part of this blog post and the second part do not belong together. The picture of Kevin Williamson hardly looks like a musclebound man.

  67. 67.

    Platypus

    So people who learn stuff from books tend to lean left more than people who shun books in favor of other pursuits. And the surprise is…?

  68. 68.

    Amir Khalid

    I had a similar experience at the movies a few months ago. The guy next to me kept checking his SMS messages on his smartphone with a big, bright, very distracting screen, even after the movie had begun.
    Me (in a low voice): “Excuse me, could you please put that phone away?”
    Him: “No, I cannot put the phone away. Because I have the right to use it …” blah blah blah macho posturing.
    Me: “Oh, I see: you have no manners.”
    A few minutes later, he led his girlfriend out of the theatre, muttering curses as he went.

    I know this approach doesn’t always work. But it’s at least worth trying, and it doesn’t get you ejected for being the obstreperous one.

  69. 69.

    cathyx

    @LT: You admit that it’s one sided, but you are sticking to the one side. That’s fair.

  71. 71.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @SatanicPanic:

    Well, another thing that bothers me about this account is he mentioned “bench seating”.

    Um, “bench seating”? For a live musical theater performance? Was this in a circus tent or something?

  72. 72.

    shecky

    The manly part is where Williamson snatched and threw a phone belonging to a woman of a certain age. Just like when he took offense at Gabby Giffords thoughts about gun control, since being shot in the head gives her no special insight. Williamson is just speaking truth to power, those uppity women of a certain age. True profile in courage, this guy.

    I’m sure if the person on the cell phone was a man built like Mike Tyson, he would have done the same, amirite?

  73. 73.

    jl

    Is Major Garrett a manly he-man with upper body strength?

    TPM says he just accused unnamed GOPers of giving him fake “Benghazi!” email quotes, and that the GOPers told him they were quotes, but they weren’t.

    Wow, This is Pretty Epic
    Josh Marshall, TPM
    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/05/wow_this_is_pretty_epic.php

    Man, how badly does a GOPer have to burn a corporate hack like Major Garrett for him to out the GOP, if not the individuals?

  76. 76.

    MattR

    I don’t understand Williamson’s problem. He complained to management and they chose not to do anything. If he didn’t like the way they run their business he should go elsewhere and let the free market he worships work its magic.

    PS. My biggest complaint about the site redesign is that refreshing the page now eats my half written commments

  77. 77.

    quannlace

    Upper body strength, check. Upper cranium strength….ehhh, not so much.

    The picture of the typical right winger? Stephen Seagal, I rest my case.

  78. 78.

    lumpkin

    Why does this shit only happen to righties? I remember a while back reading an account by a guy who went into an organic/co-op grocery store and getting pushed around by arrogant vegetarians and hippies. They just must be born with a sort of genetic “kick me hard” sign stuck on their ass.

  80. 80.

    Violet

    women of a certain age, the sad sort with too much makeup and too-high heels

    Note that he has to negatively describe the women’s looks. Typical wingnut casual misogyny.

  82. 82.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @srv:

    Don’t you mean “gun”? :)

    OT: Michele Bachmann, (Insane-MN) says that every time she goes home that her constituents come up to her and ask her what is taking so long to impeach Obama. Crazy Congresscritter says this as if it is something significant.

    Michele, they voted for you. They are crazy too.

  83. 83.

    ranchandsyrup

    @lumpkin: In my experience, righties believe that people of the left will back down when faced with bluster or posturing. Just today the office winger was claiming “GAME OVER” because of the scandals as libruls always fold.

  84. 84.

    Calouste

    @cathyx:

    Kevin Williamson looks like the kind of guy people walked up to from behind during school lunch and pushed his face in his plate of mashed potatoes a) because he deserved it and b) just because they could.

  85. 85.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @lumpkin: Part of it is that they see every interaction as some kind of pissing contest. Normal people see it as “someone bumped into me at the grocery store because he was looking at his list not where he was going.”

  86. 86.

    lumpkin

    @YellowJournalism:

    >>>And does that study include all the old men in scooters riding around at Tea Party rallies?<<<

    Well, it sure as heck doesn't include Jonah Goldberg.

  87. 87.

    cathyx

    @LT: so if you read her side of the story with her slant and not his side at all, you’d side with her?

  88. 88.

    SenyorDave

    Even if it happened exactly as he says it may qualify as assualt. He doesn’t get to escalate it in that fashion becasue she’s being rude. If he did it to another male I could possibly understand it happening, but there is a reason why most boys are told at an early age not to hit girls. Because when you reach adulthood chances are you will be bigger and stronger than most women, and an action such as what he-man Williamson described would be physically threatening to many women.

    I would like to hear the other side of the story, to me the tell is his desription of the make-up. I get the distinct impression he made that up because that fit his narrative (either that or he’s projecting and was jealous of htheir make-up)

  89. 89.

    ChrisNYC

    One week ago: “Oh Kevin! A musical is a great idea! They’re always fun.”

  90. 90.

    Calouste

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:

    So why has that lazy crazy woman not put forward a bill to impeach the President? I believe that is something members of Congress can do, can they?

  92. 92.

    LT

    @cathyx: You are out of your mind.

    so if you read her side of the story with her slant and not his side at all, you’d side with her?

    That implies I’m siding with Williamson. Stop drinking and interneting.

  94. 94.

    Kristin

    I like how the two options in the Mail article are “right wing” and ” support the welfare state.” Okie doke.

    Also, Williamson is a first class douche, but I don’t believe for one second he actually threw — or even touched — her phone. Only in his fevered wingnut dreams. He probably called her a “bitch” or some such and got kicked out for that.

  95. 95.

    cathyx

    @LT: I get the feeling this happened pretty much as he said. The part about the ushers not wanting him to leave, woman possibly pressing charges made it ring true.

    Doesn’t this quote mean your siding with him? Who’s drinking and interneting?

  96. 96.

    Chris

    @lumpkin:

    Why does this shit only happen to righties?

    Whenever I read one of those right wing Tough Guy stories, I tend to assume that they’re just making shit up. Which may be painting with too broad a brush, but honestly, giving the extent to which their personal insecurities inform their worldview, it doesn’t seem like a stretch to me.

  97. 97.

    lumpkin

    @eemom:

    >>>If he’s telling the truth, he’s being condemned here only because he’s a man and a conservative asshole.<<<

    You don't reach over and grab people's belongings, even if they are being annoying. It's either theft or assault or both.

  98. 98.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @Amir Khalid:

    Me (in a low voice): “Excuse me, could you please put that phone away?” Him: “No, I cannot put the phone away. Because I have the right to use it …” blah blah blah macho posturing. Me: “Oh, I see: you have no manners.”

    Ha. I always say, “Do you fucking mind?” sharply when someone is being rude in public. Unless that someone cut me off or bumped me or won’t get out of the way. Then I say, “I’m sorry, am I in your fucking way?”

    Because I’m a large male with lots of upper body strength, it usually results in a very quick resolution.

  100. 100.

    Omnes Omnibus

    FWIW the only people I knew who read the Mail when I was living in London were Sloaney girls who wanted got it for Nigel Dempster.

  101. 101.

    Kristin

    @eemom: It may be your opinion that he had a right to do that, but that is not a fact. Even if Paul Krugman had done that, I’d call him a douche. It’s unacceptable, regardless of political stripe. (I don’t actually think Williamson has the cajones to actually do something like that, however.)

  102. 102.

    LT

    @cathyx: No I’m not siding with him as my comments clearly show. I even included a link to my tweet to him last night. For fuck’s sake. How does me repeating what the dumbass said mean I’m supporting him?

  103. 103.

    scav

    @Odie Hugh Manatee: The sane ones in her presence are indeed the ones slowly and carefully moving out of range of possible contact and attention from her. Usually defensive behavior seen on public transit, but an innate skill, often pulled off elsewhere by claiming a complete stranger as a long-lost friend from high-school and really, really, we must have a long chat later at a better time. Breeding and the Geneva Convention teaches us to acknowlege all such random claims of historical friendship as legitimate and abet the escape.

  105. 105.

    Tokyokie

    I’m sympathetic to Williamson because people using phones in theaters annoys the living crap out of me. But I, too, doubt events transpired quite the way he relates them, and if they did, he went about things wrong. First, he (not his date) should have approached management during the intermission, informed them of the problem, described the offender, told them where she was sitting and told management that if he had to leave his seat during the second act to get this matter resolved, then he would expect a full refund of the admission prices for him and his date. Then, when the behavior resumed after intermission, inform the offender that her choices were to put the phone away or be escorted from the theater, disrupting the performance for everybody sitting near her. Then I’d get the usher.

    Of course, I’m generally not affected by this sort of behavior because when it first arises, I’ll growl in a very deep and menacing voice (and my vocal range is similar to Ezio Pinza’s), “I didn’t pay $X to hear you talk on the phone!” I rarely have to go to step 2. And the fool should have gotten on her in the first act.

  106. 106.

    NotMax

    Knowing I’d be ejected, would still probably have stood up and loudly (and I can attain lots of volume) shout “Excuse me, but could all you people on stage please stop and wait until this lady here is finished using her phone?”

    YMMV

  107. 107.

    belieber

    Frankly, I’ve found almost without exception, that Conservatives bark is worse than their bit. If you confront them in person or show the slightest bit of backbone during an argument about politics they turn into a giant pussy! I also truly believe that is part of the explanation for their gun fetish. To compensate for their feelings of inadequacy and because they are fearful little bunny rabbits trapped in a mans body.

  108. 108.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @Calouste:

    Because it would require her to actually stick her neck out and do something while in congress?

    Crazy people don’t make any sense and that’s Bachmann-Wingnut Overdrive for you.

    OT:

    FP’er at Redstate:

    “Do Everything In Your Power To Destroy The Modern Left.”

    Which got all kinds of high-fives from the critters in the zoo. One such critter says:

    “We’re way past being one people with minor differences regarding national gals and how to achieve them. Our differences have become an unbridgeable chasm. One side or the other must win or we must become two, or more, countries.”

    A call for the destruction of those who disagree with you and a call for the dividing of our country into two countries? I remember hearing that some idiots tried something like this in the past somewhere and it didn’t turn out very well for those who advocated the same thing.

  110. 110.

    Scamp Dog

    Has anyone else noticed that there’s next to no information in the linked article about the results of the study? And never mind the methods. I have a sneaking feeling it may be something like men in the strong category (however that’s determined) are more conservative by a percentage point or two. Which of course totally justifies berating liberals as wimps and gushing about how manly you are because of your conservative views.

  113. 113.

    Chris

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:

    We’re way past being one people with minor differences regarding national gals and how to achieve them.

    LOL. What are their national goals? Can any of them even describe them coherently?

    I remember a Facebook conversation where after the Nth bitching by a conservative relative of mine about what Obama was doing, a liberal relative then asked “okay, so what’s your solution” and the only answer was “if we could bring Reagan back to life, that would be great! Failing that, vote for Romney.”

    They have no goals, they have no ideas. Just hate for all those of us who don’t bow before them deeply enough (and even if we did, they’d hate us anyway because they’d suspect we weren’t being sincere about it).

  115. 115.

    gogol's wife

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    And based on the picture of it that was in the Times, it looked like a kind of casual atmosphere in which hushed silence wouldn’t necessarily be required.

  116. 116.

    third of two

    Just an observation, but isn’t it true that politically aligned manly men are more likely to pitch a bitch fit?

  117. 117.

    gogol's wife

    @third of two:

    Only if you cast aspersions on their asparagus. (Quoting Louis Gohmert today. I can’t get enough of that quotation.)

  118. 118.

    Liquid

    Bullshit! As a 6’2″ 255 lb male I am a complete teddy bear. As long as no one starts threatening my friends/significant others I’m as gentle as can be. It usually falls to the shorter guys to try picking a fight or mouthing off.

  119. 119.

    JWL

    Reminds me of that Seinfeld episode in which George Castanza consciously behaved in impromptu opposition to what he’d normally do. He introduced himself to a beautiful woman as being unemployed and living with his parents (to which she responded with a come hither “Hi”), and threatened the annoying young punks in a movie theatre with a beating if they didn’t pipe down (which they did).

  120. 120.

    MikeJ

    @lumpkin:

    You don’t reach over and grab people’s belongings, even if they are being annoying. It’s either theft or assault or both.

    This is what I said when that dumbfuck preacher was going to burn a Koran and the well meaning but stupid kid stole it.

  121. 121.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @scav:

    Kinda like when someone hiking has to slowly back away from a bear that hasn’t seen or smelled them yet?

    OT:

    John Boehner, (R-Orange), last week on the upcoming vote to once again overturn Obamacare:

    “We’ve got 70 new members of congress who haven’t had a chance to vote on Obamacare.”

    Hell, why stop there Johnny? Why not let the House vote on the Civil Rights Act again? C’mon man, you know it’s the right thing to do since none of you got a chance to do it!

    @Chris:

    “Just hate for all those of us who don’t bow before them deeply enough (and even if we did, they’d hate us anyway because they’d suspect we weren’t being sincere about it).”

    More likey that would be their fear that we would be laughing at them and rolling our eyes while bowing.

  122. 122.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @MikeJ: The major difference there is that both the burning and taking were intended as symbolic speech.

  123. 123.

    Amanda in the South Bay

    Ah that study then explains the explosion of right wing pundits who joined the Army and Marines after 9/11. At the height of my physical fitness in the Army, I reckon I could’ve kicked Rich Lowrys ass.

  125. 125.

    MikeJ

    @Scamp Dog:

    Has anyone else noticed that there’s next to no information in the linked article about the results of the study?

    It’s the Daily Fucking Mail. They don’t cite sources for anything.

  126. 126.

    shortstop

    This is the same guy — no? — who said that Obama is a big Fuilly Pousse because he fathered girls, while Mitt is Thomas the Train of Stud because he had five boys. In next week’s column, Williamson explains that you can determine the sex of a an unborn child by dangling a spoon by a thread over the mother’s wrist.

  127. 127.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    Had the woman stood her ground and exercised her Second Amendment rights conservatives’ heads would explode due to indecision about which thing to whine about.

  128. 128.

    shortstop

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate: I believe that under Manhattan’s Castle Doctrine, she could have blown him away without repercussions.*

    *Is joke. Renowned literalists, please do not correct me.

  129. 129.

    lumpkin

    @MikeJ:

    >>>This is what I said when that dumbfuck preacher was going to burn a Koran and the well meaning but stupid kid stole it.<<<

    When exactly, did this happen? Why were you there? What was your role in this? Why can't dumbfucks burn Korans if they own them? What does this have to do with a guy bragging about stealing the phone from a "woman of a certain age" and destroying it?

    This is an entirely made up hypothetical, so you have no standing here.

  133. 133.

    MikeJ

    @lumpkin: It was in Austin a few years ago. I’m all for dumbfucks burning Korans, or any other pieces of their own property so long as it doesn’t interfere with other people. I think the idiot kid was wrong, but I understood his motivation.

    This is not a courtroom, so I don’t need standing. Go fuck yourself.

  134. 134.

    shortstop

    Was anyone hit by the airborne phone? Better yet, more than one person? We may be able to gin up some terrorism charges.

  137. 137.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Violet:

    I’m gonna smack that smirk right offa that guy
    I’m gonna smack that smirk right offa that guy
    I’m gonna smack that smirk right offa that guy
    And send him on his way.

    I’m gonna punch the shit right outta his puss
    I’m gonna punch the shit right outta his puss
    I’m gonna punch the shit right outta his puss
    And send him on his way.

    Don’t try to sample him
    Trample him, trample him!
    Don’t try to cherish him
    Perish him, perish him!
    Damage him, and let him go,
    Yeah, sister!

    Etc…..

  139. 139.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    @NotMax:

    AFAIK, no one is marketing the gunphone.

    Yet. OTOH, had the woman been packing, as the right wing advocates…

  141. 141.

    RSA

    As it turns out, the news article is directly contradicted by the actual research paper. Compare:

    Men who are physically strong are more likely to take a right wing political stance, while weaker men are inclined to support the welfare state, according to a new study.

    From the abstract of the referenced study,

    Among men of lower socioeconomic status (SES), strength predicted increased support for redistribution; among men of higher SES, strength predicted increased opposition to redistribution.

    Just for clarity.

  145. 145.

    NickT

    @MikeJ:

    Over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.”

  146. 146.

    Suffern ACE

    @MikeJ: they might have direct access to tge study anyway. It’s a British paper, so they probably just got the gist of it from a wiretap of the researchers’ cell phone.

  147. 147.

    MattR

    @RSA: So basically, strong rich guys are assholes who want to take everyone’s shit for themselves while strong poor guys want to take the rich guy’s shit to spread among all the poor.

  150. 150.

    keestadoll

    I KNEW this would be up in here today. I also expected some flippant and satirical exchanges of manly brioche recipes and everyone trying to find an appropriate Nietzsche quotes. I’ll check in later.

  151. 151.

    Paul Harrington

    “The principal investigators – psychological scientists Michael Bang Petersen . . .”
    Peter O’Toole, you have been served.

  152. 152.

    shortstop

    @NickT: The preservation of someone’s “natural right” to grab someone else’s copy of a religious text to prevent it from being burned is equivalent to black people’s attempt to gain the franchise and other civil rights? I hope to dog I’ve misunderstood you or you’re being sarcastic.

  153. 153.

    jl

    OK, I can’t find the commenter who inquired about what the research actually says.
    I think this is the article:

    The Ancestral Logic of Politics : Upper-Body Strength Regulates Men’s Assertion of Self-Interest Over Economic Redistribution
    Michael Bang Petersen, Daniel Sznycer, Aaron Sell, Leda Cosmides and John Tooby
    Psychological Science 2013; published online May 13,
    DOI: 10.1177/0956797612466415

    Mabye somebody who knows about this stuff can access it and give a rundown.

    They used the biceps circumference of the dominant arm, and cited some study that said it was the single best estimator of upper body strength. Except for the evolutionary psych hypothesis they interpreted upper body strength as ‘fighting ability’. They seem to come up with their own instrument to measure attitudes towards redistribution. If you have access to the article you can download a technical appendix to see the details.

    They ran separate analyses for the three samples. R-square probably best indication for how much the relationship they found explains differences between individuals, and that ranges from 0.03 to 0.12. So it does not explain much about individuals at all, just average tendencies in large populations.

    They show graphs, but that plots upper body strength agaisnt socioeconomic status, and not sure what that says about the hypothesis itself. For what it’s worth, looks like a homogeneous relationship in U.S. and Argentina. Relationship much smaller and more tenuous in Denmark.

    So, there you are! SCIENCE!

  161. 161.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Calouste: Well, Dempster died a few years ago, so I don’t think even the Sloaney girls are buying it anymore.

  163. 163.

    RSA

    @jl:

    Mabye somebody who knows about this stuff can access it and give a rundown.

    I don’t know this stuff, but I sometimes find evolutionary explanations wanting; here it seems a huge generalization. (The authors do say, “Furthermore, the findings of this study are silent with regards to the precise proximate variables that mediate between upper body strength and psychological traits.”) I’d want to see a lot more evidence.

    I do like @MattR‘s summary:

    strong poor guys want to take the rich guy’s shit to spread among all the poor.

    Personally, I’d rather be Robin Hood than the Sheriff of Nottingham.

  164. 164.

    shortstop

    @schrodinger’s cat: Women who are not sexually attractive to him are 1) worthy of nothing but derision at their physical appearance and 2) deserve to be assaulted in theaters.

  165. 165.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    @jl: I remember Major Garret when he was at KGO, along other interesting characters like Lee Rogers, his liberal opponent Bernie Ward who I think is still in prison for child porn, there was guy named Duane who I forgot his last name who did a header off the Golden Gate when it was revealed she was scamming people in the Sports memorabilia field. Ray Taliferro who I do miss.

  166. 166.

    jl

    @RSA: From what I saw of the results, they differ by region, especially between American and European samples. That seems odd for an evolutionary explanation.

    And my anecdotal experience (from what I see in the gym) there might be a problem of reverse causation. Certain type of guys sit in the gym and work on them biceps like crazed loons. The American samples were mean age in early twenties.

  167. 167.

    lumpkin

    @MattR:

    >>>I think I was in the minority with MikeJ at the time who were not applauding the kid as a hero<<<

    I stand corrected. I accept that this was a real event. I don't know the details of what happened at that event, so don't know how that lesson applies here. But still, sitting in a theater and grabbing something from your neighbor and breaking it is definitely out of bounds. We have laws and cops and ushers and people like that who are there to make sure that we don't end up fighting each other. We also have the fact that in the Koran event, it was a kid and in this case it is an adult who is also bragging about it as though it was some sort of major act of bravado (acknowledged: the kid is on Youtube, but he's a kid). Maybe next time Mr W can pull out his S&W .40 and really make his point.

  170. 170.

    JaneE

    Actually, the study on strength vs political inclination was a bit more nuanced. Wealthy men with good upper body strength were conservative, not-wealthy men with good upper body strength were liberal. Upper body strength and politics correlates to self interest, and depend on what that is (preserving one’s own wealth vs getting a share of redistributed wealth i.e. services).

    Somehow “politics reflects self interest” doesn’t sound all that ground breaking.

    OTOH, I can see where throwing a phone could get you kicked out of the theater. He should have taken it and marched it straight to the manager, demanding that he retain custody until the curtain.

  171. 171.

    RSA

    @jl:

    And my anecdotal experience (from what I see in the gym) there might be a problem of reverse causation. Certain type of guys sit in the gym and work on them biceps like crazed loons.

    I was thinking along similar lines–that’s a nice example.

  172. 172.

    lumpkin

    @MikeJ:

    >>>It was in Austin a few years ago. I’m all for dumbfucks burning Korans, or any other pieces of their own property so long as it doesn’t interfere with other people. I think the idiot kid was wrong, but I understood his motivation.

    This is not a courtroom, so I don’t need standing. Go fuck yourself<<<

    I misunderstood your point. I stand corrected.

    I'm glad that I don't have to apologize for telling you to fuck yourself.

  173. 173.

    shortstop

    @JaneE: He’s afraid of the manager. He needs his date to run interference. Otherwise, your plan is a sound one.

  175. 175.

    jl

    @RSA: Then again, JaneE says that there are study results that are more nuanced. maybe there is more than one group studying this. I didn’t see any nuance in the article I referenced above, though I read it quickly.

  179. 179.

    Kerry Reid

    As somebody who makes a living out of going to the theater (yeah, it’s tough, I know), I am applauding Williamson. (The only time I have ever — or will ever, I bet — side with an NRO hack.) What he did was a bit extreme — but the plague o’ assholes who do NOT understand that their glowy smartphone screen is a huge distraction in theaters is growing. If this went down as reported (and I’ve not seen anything to counter his version yet), then she was asked more or less nicely to STOP BEING A JERK. Unfortunately, ushers don’t always like to confront “paying patrons” who are acting like dicks. So if tough love is what it takes to reach the entitled twatwaffles who think “I Paid For My Ticket!” means “I Can Do Whatever The Fuck I Want!” — well, so be it.

    (Seriously — I have a friend who is a season subscriber to the Lyric Opera of Chicago. He was at a performance of Der Rosenkavalier years ago. Woman next to him PUKED in the aisle and then sat there like nothing happened. He complained to the usher who said “Well, she paid for her ticket and we can’t force her to leave.” He asked if being a subscriber meant he could just take a dump in the orchestra seats if he felt like it.)

  182. 182.

    Hobbes

    I’m surprised no-one has recommended setting up your cell phone to mimic the nearest cell towers and block all except emergency calls.
    I’m not recommending it, as it is illegal most places.
    Quiet… but illegal.

  183. 183.

    Kerry Reid

    @Shortstop: My point is that all the people saying “Well, let the ushers handle it!” don’t realize that ushers don’t often want to get involved — at least not until after the show. Was he a jerk? Sure. But she was a bigger one for not acknowledging that what she was doing was rude, disruptive, and entitled. I’ve seen kids tell grown women “Chill, bitch” when they were nicely asked to put away their phones in a performance and the kids’ adult companions said nothing. I probably wouldn’t have grabbed her phone, but as someone who has had more performances than I can remember nearly ruined by ringing phones (not quite the same thing — anyone can forget to turn their phone off, though it takes a special brand of stupid to not check when you are asked REPEATEDLY to make sure it is OFF OFF OFF), and gabbing patrons, I have sympathy for Williamson’s frustration. Even though he is a right-wing pig.

  184. 184.

    Kerry Reid

    @Hobbes: I would be quite in favor of live performance venues using blocking technology in the auditorium.

  187. 187.

    skjellyfetti

    Yep. When I think of manly men, my first thought always goes to Karl Rove, whom, I’ve heard tell, can really fill out the business end of a Speedo, or a jock strap–iff’n you get my drift, and I think that you do.

    No, wait… that’s wrong; I’m thinking of Karl Hungus, star of that cinematic masterpiece, Logjammin’. But then again, he’s a nihilist so it’s not as if his physical attributes matter because it’s highly unlikely that his seed will be dispersed with the four winds–iff’n you get my drift, and I think that you do.

    But hey, he fixed the cable… I think… No matter.

  188. 188.

    Kerry Reid

    @Omnes Omnibus: Distinction without difference in my experience. Again — they almost never want to do anything til after the performance, if then, unless it’s a medical emergency (and as per the Lyric Opera incident, they may not even do something when actual vomit is involved). So yeah — Williamson could have left to see if anyone would intervene, or he could have stewed til the end of the show and then complained. But the idiot with the phone would have continued disrupting everyone. Of course, what he did was disruptive, too. But until patrons either learn to put the fucking phones away or figure out that there are actual penalties for not doing so (I would be in favor of physical ejection, but I’m sure that would be construed as assault, too), people are going to take matters — and phones — into their own hands.

    And hey, he got slapped for his troubles, so it evens out.

  189. 189.

    Shortstop

    @Kerry Reid: When I read your reviews, I sometimes wonder if we saw the same plays. I’m getting the same feeling in this thread.

  191. 191.

    Kerry Reid

    @Shortstop: It’s almost as if people have different reactions to different cultural artifacts even if they are encountering them at the same time. Wacky!

  195. 195.

    Full Metal Wingnut

    Thing is, the writer is completely in the right up until the act of violence. Isn’t there some theater in Texas with a very strict no phones or talking policy? I’d love to go to a place like that.

  196. 196.

    John B.

    The hypothesis of the study is strained, at best.

    Here’s a better one:

    There are two ways to develop upper body strength: the necessity of work or the luxury of exercise. I would expect that not that many of the rich men sampled built up their bulging biceps due to hours of manual labor.

    Of the people who build strength through exercise, I’d expect bicep size to be most developed by routines devoted to bicep size; that is, body-building, strength training, etc.

    Of the devotees of body-building and strength training, I’d expect to see an overrepresentation of narcissists and other generally selfish, self-absorbed individuals, and of that set, I’d expect to see an overrepresentation of conservatives.

    Less-wealthy individuals with large biceps, on the other hand, are probably going to see a much larger sample of manual laborers, and that sample will either skew towards a more even distribution of political viewpoints, or given that this study is European, a higher union/worker bias.

    The luxury/necessity bias split is a much more parsimonious explanation than that strained evolutionary pop psychology.

  198. 198.

    Shortstop

    @Kerry Reid: Because all criticism is based in jealousy; gotcha. That reaction, expressed as it was in a Reidly hoary cliche, certainly sheds some light on your…body of work.

  199. 199.

    Spike

    I’d guess that the ratio of upper-body strength to lower-body strength is strongly correlated to wingnuttia. Recall those awful dumbbell (heh!) photos of Paul Ryan flexing his manly biceps over his scrawny little bird legs.

  200. 200.

    elspi

    WTF Upper body strength is now genetically determined and not a result of weight training/steriods?

  201. 201.

    Kerry Reid

    @Shortstop: I encourage you to share your concerns with the management at my paper. Or you can just talk to me in person next time you see me out at a show. For that matter, my email is pretty easy to find and I am certainly open to talking about your disagreements with my reviews if that would make you feel better.

  203. 203.

    Crouchback

    So if bicep size is only weakly correlated with conservatism and upper body strength merely correlated with bicep size, doesn’t that mean the correlation between upper body strength and conservatism is (ironically) really weak? I think we just had another demonstration why evolutionary psychology has trouble being taken seriously.

  204. 204.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    One thought about this guy taking the woman’s phone and tossing it; for those who are impressed by his actions, do you really think this hero would have done this if it was some big dude that would have stomped a mudhole in his ass?

  206. 206.

    Rudi

    Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 – Manly musical with show tunes
    Dressage – Manly

    Rodeo and NASCAR – teh gay

    The NASCAR crowd would love Williams in that “manly” suit and shirt

  207. 207.

    Jamey

    I call bullshit. If this was a theater in Texas and the writer was a right-winger, the problem of poor cellphone courtesy would have been solved by a “Second Amendment solution.”

  208. 208.

    AHH onna Droid

    @John B.: Late but agreed except that I would expect lower SES men who are in non physical jobs to have more management stockholm syndrome and fantasies of moving up the ladder. And among those who become disabled there seem to be a lot of fantacists who ‘earned’ their bennies and imagine state support to be a zero sum game. I wonder if the study excluded the non able bodied.

    Also, high school only white males trend Dem in US, too. Wh male overrepresent among males who graduate hs and males who attend, graduate college, ba onlies of course trend GOP.

  209. 209.

    Harold Samson

    @Tim in SF:

    Much cheaper: a small flashlight with a tight focus. Shine in the eyes of the offender.

    Directly educates the offender as to the nature of their infraction, and prevents criminal charges.

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