Via Jossip, it looks like Sarah Palin is going to be appearing on SNL. The next stop? The View!
I hadn't planned on writing anything in response to the article "The Cost of Being Gay," featured in the October 21 issue of The Advocate, but I just came across it again, and it hit a sour note with me. Again. I know it's designed to hit sour notes, and I resent the demagoguery, but I feel a need to respond.
Take a few moments to read the article (it's pretty short) so you know what I'm talking about.
I mean, the lede is: "We all agree that sexual orientation isn’t just about whom you sleep with but how much of your identity is tied up in the things you have to buy (not to mention the price you’re willing to pay for them)."
Really? Buying things makes you gay? My take on the article after the jump.
To be absolutely clear from the outset, the writer, John Cloud, could not be more wrong. He inhabits a subset of a subset of a subset culture. Living in a gay neighborhood in New York City, he looks around him and sees nothing but people like him and concludes that those are the only people in the world. It's myopic, and it's also offensive.
How does this silly man who lives in Chelsea, vacations in The Pines, and wears nothing but designer underwear in order to feel real have the temerity to dismiss the gayness of everyone not like him? In this article, he has managed to make invisible the hundreds of millions of gay and lesbian people in this world -- the people who seek refuge from countries that torture and kill their gay citizens. Are they not really gay? ("We all agree that sexual orientation isn’t just about whom you sleep with but how much of your identity is tied up in the things you have to buy . . .") Cloud also trivializes the struggles of our own Americans who have fought and died for his right to rub sand on his jeans.
His self-control is a limited resource? He writes, "According to Pachankis, because of social stigma, gay people often feel they must work very hard to manage others’ impressions of them. We monitor our behavior more than those who don’t face stigma; gays and lesbians often carefully calibrate their social interactions so as not to seem weak. Expending that self-regulatory effort makes it harder, in turn, to exert self-control in other aspects of life, like spending. That’s why we just can’t say no to a gay cruise or a gorgeous new Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams chair."
What an irresponsible way to be irresponsible! This is the logical equilavent of: "I am buying these things because people are mean to me. I spend every bit of my self-control trying to impress people, so what else could I possibly do but buy more things? Temptation cannot be resisted. I am not responsible for my actions. Those kids who were mean to me in high school are!" He is not occasionally shallow -- he is permanently adolescent.
Or a permanent undergrad. This kind of unsophisticated thinking should be found in a freshman writing class, not The Advocate: "Psychologically speaking, delaying consumption is an act of self-regulation, a term psychologists use to mean self-control. Over the last few years research has shown that if you spend time and mental energy regulating one aspect of your life—say, how you present yourself to the world—it will be harder for you to exert self-control in other domains. Self-regulation, in short, is a resource that can be depleted, like oil."
"Psychogically speaking?" And "Research has shown?" These are close relatives of the newscaster who says, "Some people say . . . ." Perhaps writing skills are a limited resource for Cloud as well. Like oil.
He does have a shred of conscience, however. And he demonstrates it when he writes that "maybe this is all a little too convenient. I live in Chelsea; I am out at work; I am out to everyone in my family, all my friends. I don’t think I have to cope with much stigma." But if he doesn't have to cope with stigma, then what is he writing about?
This lack of logic runs throughout his article. He would make a terrible scientist. He uses his data to support a belief, no matter how much he has to twist and contort that data in order to fit it. (His little aside on poverty rates, which based on the information he provided could be within margins of error, reads like this: "We demand that gays not live in poverty! And so they don't. Problem solved.")
He wants to be a big fish in a little pond when there is an ocean of trouble out there. Good luck in that expensive crystal fish bowl.
Donna Brazile gets fired up about race, gender, and sexual orientation. This is exactly what we need from our leaders.
The Prop 8 fight goes on. Also, here is an interactive map of where gays can and cannot wed.
Michelle Obama not offended by "that one."
New generation of minority college students stalling.
Bill Richardson's permanent fissure with Bill Clinton.
If the entire world could vote for the President of the United States . . .
What is clean coal, anyway?
I don't know how I missed this, but Michelle Obama was on Paula Deen?! A few weeks ago?! Michelle was lucky to get out of there alive! You know Paula tried to feed Michelle The Lady's Brunch Burger.
Yes, you are seeing this correctly. This is The Lady's Brunch Burger. A hamburger topped with fried eggs, cheese, and bacon, then sandwiched between a split Krispy Kreme donut, and then drenched in syrup.
(I swear, I tried to link to the original Food Network page, but it's been deleted! There were, I kind you not, death threats against Paula left in the comments section when the page still existed.)
Remember when Anne Rice wrote about gay vampires? Remember when she wrote porn? Remember when she wasn't crazy? Because she sure is now.
SI's Tennis Mailbag
More talk of circumcision. It might not protect against HIV after all.
Jennifer Hudson focuses on music.
A better you through The Beauty Engine
French writer wins Nobel.
Mr. Black not dead?
Can bloggers save the world? 
T.R. Knight fights the gay marriage opposition
NSFW It looks like a Cosmo bachelor or two got nakedfor some real gay porn sites. NSFW
Super slow motion of a guy getting punched in the face. Who knew faces were so squishable?
This is British actor Hugh Dancy. I don't really know who he is, but he's real cute. Photographed for Vogue Hommes International.
A few more safe for work pics of Mr. Dancy after the jump.
Via Boyculture
There is a quick entry over at Yglesias that breaks down the 2000 and 2004 Ohio vote by income and race. This makes me wonder how the vote broke down in the 2008 primaries.
Over at New York Magazine, Matthew Yglesias and Garrett M. Graff talk about the election's generational divide. Graff says, "This election, even more than we realized, is shaping up to be a generational election — will the Millennials take over or the Greatest Generation rule one more time? McCain is really struggling to not come off as a cranky old man, but he has the problem of, well, being a cranky old man — out of touch with the world and the trends of the last decade."
The boys over at Project Rungay break down last night's show.
I swear, it's like, for every episode, the judges make up a new way to play the game.
Spoiler and exit interview after the jump. Also, video of Kenley's call-in to Andy Cohen's show. She fields questions by Andy and Daniel V. Also after the jump.
Jerell is out. I liked Jerell a lot. He's a little weird, a little whimsical, a little out there, very cute, and a lot hung.
Where would we be without a Mom to tell us we might want to start using a Retinol product? Where would we be without a best friend to tell us we can't borrow a sweater because it makes us look paunchy? Sometimes we just need someone to just tell us like it is. Steve Schifferes of BBC News interviews British historian Simon Schama and dicusses the challenges facing America. As a non-American historian, Schama can act as over-indulgent America's mom and best friend. Our poor taste in oil and political leaders has made us terribly out of style. Schifferes writes that, according to Schama,:
America was founded by pioneers who had an expectation of plenty, who believed that it was endowed with God-given natural resources and thought that through hard work it could provide enough resources for all. [He] argues that Sarah Palin, as the governor of Alaska, represents of the enduring power of the frontier as a continuing factor in American politics . . . her belief that only full development of Alaska's oil and gas reserves can save it from dependence on foreign powers has echoes of the 19th Century belief in Manifest Destiny which aimed to conquer nature and take control of the whole of North America.
Even if this weren't an indictment of Bush, it really might be time to leave the frontier behind.
Tell Me More Stories:
Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee discusses the presidential debate between Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Barack Obama (D-IL). Alexander also talks about his own re-election campaign.
Some watching the presidential debate Tuesday night said they found the town hall-style format at times restrictive despite intentions for it to give voters a chance to set the agenda for the discussion. They also said that the candidates' answers were light on specifics.
The significance of the Latino vote in this year's presidential election is the subject of Latinos '08, a new documentary airing tonight on PBS. It gives a historic look at how the Latino vote has been courted by presidential candidates and how this year's election is playing out with Latinos.
Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan contributes to the Tell Me More series In Your Ear, when some of the guests who've dropped by share the music they listen to. Duncan shares the songs he finds inspiring and soothing.
Fresh Air Stories:
An internal Justice Department investigation has concluded that the controversial U.S. attorney firings of 2006 were of a partisan political nature. One of the seven fired attorneys, Iglesias discusses his book, In Justice, an insider's account of the affair
Last week, fliers went up in predominantly African-American neighborhoods of Philadelphia warning that people with outstanding warrants or unpaid parking tickets could be arrested if they show up at the polls. Zach Stalberg of the Committee of Seventy discusses this effort to discourage voters.
A new report issued by the nonpartisan advocacy group Common Cause gauges the voting infrastructure in 10 swing states. Tova Wang, the primary author of the report, discusses the findings
Much has been made of the effects the recent financial crisis will have on "Main Street." Linguist Geoff Nunberg Geoff Nunberg discusses how this term gained such popular — and presidential — usage.
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Fresh Air
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Daily Song
Politics
Rachel Maddow discusses John McCain's Kitchen Sink Strategy (10:57)
Television
Little Britain USA (2:18) -- probably NSFW
Movies
Breakfast with Scot (1:51)
Music Video