When identity politics becomes misogynistic hate speech

Speaking of insults and ad hominem attacks, Ann Althouse (guest blogging at Instapundit) links one of the most extreme examples I have yet seen in all my years of blogging.

At Playboy's online site, an angry leftist named Guy Cimbalo (who apparently fancies himself a "rape fantasist") compiled a list of prominent conservative women, and singled each one out for brutally misogynistic abuse. To call this sexist would be understatement. Screenshot here, via Tommy Christopher, who concludes,

I get that Playboy is a sex magazine, but I don't see what hate has to do with sex. While the author might think it's funny or edgy, none of these women consented to be "hate f***ed," and the whole exercise is just foul and creepy.

What's worth noting, too, is that although he singles out conservative women, the author belies a hostility toward all women.

I outgrew my fascination for Playboy magazine the very instant I was able to purchase one for myself. Hopefully, any other men who claim to love women will kick the habit, too. As of this writing, a "Boycott Playboy" twitter campaign is already underway.

Ed Morrissey has more.

Naturally, Playboy would like to pretend this never happened, and pulled the piece. (Regrettably, Politico came close to assisting the coverup by mischaracterizing the nature of what Cimbalo actually said.)

While this sort of viciousness would not be surprising at a far-left site or at the sort of angry radical gay blogs that heaped abuse on Carrie Prejean, what's remarkable is that it occurred at Playboy. (Misogyny goes mainstream!)

I have to say, for a variety of reasons I'm surprised.

I'm also surprised that they'd include Peggy Noonan (who's seen by many conservatives as a sellout) with people far to her right. (I can't think of a better reminder of the hang-together-or-hang-separately principle.)

Moreover, the timing is a bit off. The left has power, both in the White House and Congress, while conservatives have been dispirited, disunited, and largely disillusioned. Such tactics right now are completely unnecessary. I guess the angry left just can't stop being angry.

However, there's a lot more to this than anger. Many conservatives are angry too, but there is simply no right wing counterpart to the misogynistic hatred routinely displayed towards conservative women.

Nor are conservative men subjected to anywhere near the same type of personal attacks on their hairstyles, clothing, or personal anatomy that conservative women have to endure. Over the years I have seen such abuse directed against Margaret Thatcher, Kathleen Harris (during the Florida vote count), and of course we all remember what happened to Condoleezza Rice (whose additional crime was being a black conservative). While rape advocacy is a new escalation, in many ways, this misogyny springs from identity politics. Conservative women are seen as traitors to their sex, and thus no holds are barred. Not even hate speech of the sort the left would call "eliminationist rhetoric." So, while it's certainly sick and twisted, the rape advocacy piece in Playboy is in many ways a very logical culmination.

If the left keeps stuff like this up, the right won't have to do anything to win.

UPDATE: Recalling the bumper sticker "argument" that Sarah Palin was "not a woman" but a Republican, Ed Driscoll notes that Playboy has now become a Larry Flynt-style hate site, and

to bring this full circle with the bumper sticker above, they're not human to the identity politics-obsessed left, because they think different. Somebody should write a book about this phenomenon.
Little wonder the self-proclaimed liberal experts on fascism refuse to acknowledge the long and ugly history of "eliminationist rhetoric" on the left. To say nothing of the accompanying actual elimination of tens of millions of people.

(Bill Ayers and his friends wanted to murder 25 million Americans.)

Little wonder that leftists would see the rape of conservative women as funny.

posted by Eric on 06.02.09 at 10:28 AM





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Comments

This strikes me as an outsized version of that Comedian/Harridan's monologue during the campaign- what was her name? You know, the one who got up onstage and said Sarah Palin needed to be raped by "four of my black brothers."
Geez- who ARE these people?
I'd like a list, so I can avoid them.

Lynne   ·  June 2, 2009 11:53 AM
If the left keeps stuff like this up, the right won't have to do anything to win.

Unfortunately, Eric, you're wrong on this. The fact that the right will continue to shy away from confronting these monsters and that the media as a whole will defend them virtually guarantees that the attacks will continue.

And if Peggy Noonan were to be violently raped tomorrow, any attempt to hold Cimbalo responsible would be met with "Bah." (picture Dogbert).

And people wonder why I'm cynical.

brian   ·  June 2, 2009 12:00 PM

(Misogyny goes mainstream!)

I'm not sure how long it's been going on, but Moynihan put it perfectly, "Defining deviancy down".

Our social, intellectual and political betters have been defining deviancy down for so long that it's unbelieve-a-bile anymore. Who was it yesterday who was talking about how the movie Network is actually tame compared to current reality? They bleep out "bitch" in the Good the Bad and the Ugly but it's on tv every night now.

You think conservatives will win, I don't. I think that the crazies are on the march...again.
Politics has become too much like religion. Again.
The reason is "Everybody lies.", so many (most?) people are just choosing the reality they like the best and they get angry when you question that reality.
Just try to discuss sunspot activity with a global warmmonger (you tool of big oil you).

We're in the Funniest End of Civilization Ever.
Seriously. Iran says for years that they want nukes to blow up Israel and the POTUS just said they have a right to nukes as long as it's peaceful. That's funny and endy.

NoKo is getting very frisky. Russia is disposing of the last vestiges of freedom and China's population is getting more male and they're acting all frisky too.

It's gonna get interesting.
Chinese curse "interesting".

Veeshir   ·  June 2, 2009 12:08 PM

I guess the angry left just can't stop being angry.

And your ONLY example of the "misogynistic hate speech" of the "angry left" is a commenter at a porn site? That's your "proof" of the evils of the "angry left?"

If you have to that far afield to find an example, that alone is proof that you have no case. How much time do you spend on Playboy's online site looking for "angry leftists?" Dude, if you're going to waste time at porn sites, I can think of something far more sensible too look for there.

Raging Bee   ·  June 2, 2009 04:24 PM

If you'd stop raging for a minute, Bee, you might realize that it wasn't a commenter but a paid employee of Playboy (which went out of its way to promote the article to conservative bloggers), and it's not the only example that Eric mentioned.

Okay, you can go back to raging now.

Jim Treacher   ·  June 2, 2009 05:22 PM

Obviously Raging Bee has never heard of Huffington Post, Gawker, Daily Kos, Atrios, Firedoglake or the New York Times.

Or are attacks on and lies about Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton not misogyny?

brian   ·  June 3, 2009 07:54 AM

Oh, you thin-skinned right wing! It was just a JOKE! Geez, get a life!

It was EXACTLY like when Ann Coulter called John Edwards a "faggot", or when Rush called feminists "feminazis".

It was just a joke! You Republicans are so sensitive. Try to grow a pair before you start whining next time!


GALT LIVES!

LipstickBedeckedPigs   ·  June 3, 2009 08:47 AM

Let's see.

Coulter makes fun of Edwards' hair, and the lefties want her stoned.

Rush accurately describes the leaders of the gender feminist movement and they attack him with every vile epithet they can publish.

But we're thin skinned for complaining that an article advocating rape is in poor taste?

If the shoe was on the other foot, the writer would already be in prison.

brian   ·  June 3, 2009 09:25 AM

Oooh, he was an EMPLOYEE of Playboy? Wow, that makes him more representative of the political left than I'd thought. Not.

Obviously Raging Bee has never heard of Huffington Post, Gawker, Daily Kos, Atrios, Firedoglake or the New York Times.

Okay, got any incidences of "misogynistic hate speech" from any of those sources? And if you do, why do you have to bother quoting irrelevant Playboy employees?

Or are attacks on and lies about Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton not misogyny?

Manyh of the attacks I've heard are the truth: Clinton was a lousy campaigner who flushed her own credibility down the toilet through half-assed misuse of dirty tactics; and Sarah Palin was, and still is, a fucking idiot. Yes, there were plenty of misogynistic lies about Clinton, but most of them came from the right, not the left; and you all damn well know this.

Your complaints about "misogynistic hate speech" from the left are pure projection: most of the hatred of women has come from the anti-choice, domestic-terrorist-enabling, anti-birth-control, anti-sex, pro-war fake-Christian rdical right, who have more in common with the Taliban than with ordinary Americans.

Raging Bee   ·  June 3, 2009 09:44 AM

brian:

Rush is ACCURATE???

I don't think another drug addict ever had two best-selling books detailing his lies, unless you acknowledge the fact that the worthless consumer-not-producer son of a former president who became president.

Rush follows the proud Republican tradition of drug addicts that get their lies documented and called out.

GALT LIVES!

LipstickBedeckedPigs   ·  June 3, 2009 10:20 AM

GCILF-WAPNSD (Guy Cimbalos I'd Like To Fuck - With A Peggy Noonan-Shaped Dildo)

D. Aristophanes   ·  June 3, 2009 11:05 AM

Oooh, he was an EMPLOYEE of Playboy? Wow, that makes him more representative of the political left than I'd thought.

My goodness. Do you always get so upset when your factual errors are corrected?

Jim Treacher   ·  June 3, 2009 12:20 PM

No, I just get amused, in a make-fun-of-homeless-drunks sort of way, when you mke a huge deal out of IRRELEVANT facts.

Raging Bee   ·  June 3, 2009 12:27 PM

Rage,

Well when you don't have facts on your side pound the table.

Are you a lawyer?

M. Simon   ·  June 3, 2009 01:01 PM

Okay, so it's not relevant that a liberal-leaning magazine had no problem publishing a rape-list of people they disagree with. Good stuff, Bee.

Jim Treacher   ·  June 3, 2009 01:12 PM

No, the opinions published in a porn magazine ("liberal-leaning" or not) are most certainly not a relevant measure of liberal political thought. Except, of course, to people who can't find validation for their prejudices anywhere else but in porn.

Raging Bee   ·  June 3, 2009 01:44 PM

They're not because Raging Bee says they're not. And neither are any other examples, presumably. Well asserted.

Jim Treacher   ·  June 3, 2009 02:14 PM

BTW, I just had a look at that "Ayers wants to kill 25 million Americans" link: it leads to another post of yours, which leads to a tiny snippet of hypothetical rambling -- not a specific strategic plan, or anything that could remotely qualify as evidence of a criminal conspiracy.

Oh, and the promary source for this was an FBI informant; and the reliability and honesty of such informants has been credibly impeached on numerous occasions. That, and the fact that Ayers was never actually convicted of any such charges, once again shows your "case" to be hollow and pathetic.

Raging Bee   ·  June 3, 2009 02:54 PM

Ayers was never actually convicted of any such charges.

Wanting to kill people is not a crime.

Besides, Ayers admits he didn't do enough!

Eric Scheie   ·  June 3, 2009 03:28 PM

Don't you republicans realize yet that Ayers was JOKING? It was just a JOKE! Geez, get a life!

It was EXACTLY like when Ann Coulter called John Edwards a "faggot", or when Rush called feminists "feminazis".

It was just a joke! You Republicans are so sensitive. Try to grow a pair before you start whining next time!

GALT LIVES!

LipstickBedeckedPigs   ·  June 3, 2009 04:17 PM

Of course Ayers "didn't do enough." Neither did I, when I planned to launch a Communist revolution at the age of 12-13. (How many people would that have killed?) That's why his past actions are totally not worth mentioning today, and why your continued harping on them is so pathetic and small-minded. SO WHAT?!

Raging Bee   ·  June 3, 2009 04:28 PM

I'll take Raging Bee's word over John M. Murtagh's any day.

Jim Treacher   ·  June 3, 2009 04:37 PM

Bee proves that he's a marginal thinker.

I'd be willing to bet that everything Bee believes about Sarah Palin came from Saturday Night Live.

Oh, and the vilest attacks on Hillary? they came from the Obama campaign. DKos banned one of his long-time diarists for being a Hillary supporter, while he posted his hate-filled screeds.

That you not only don't know this, but accuse me of hallucinating or lying proves that you have the intellectual capacity of a retarded turnip.

brian   ·  June 3, 2009 08:52 PM

I don't have a problem with what Cimballo said. Personally, like David Frum and some other conservatives, I think the biggest problem facing us is that we need to be more like the left and spend a bunch of time reading social conservatives out of the movement because that will make us popular with the voters. That's the path to electoral success...

Joe Blow   ·  June 4, 2009 10:24 PM

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