Monday, December 26, 2005

Man Of Our Times

The stalwart TBogg has weathered the temporary loss of the females in his family, mainly by taking the piss out of Our Man In The wilderness, Lileks.

easy target, maybe, but done in deathless prose.

Posted by zombie rotten mcdonald at 12:39 PM

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous12/28/2005 3:02 PM

    Thanks for pointing this out! I am going to link to it as part of the "My Pet Wingnut" series.

    I bet Lileks does flip out when confronted with the UPS guy ...

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  2. Nick W.12/29/2005 12:39 PM

    Just don't get the liberal obsession with Lileks. Is he over the top on occassion? Sure. Of course, Atrios never is. Does he condescend and lecture a bit. Yup. A vice belonging only to him, I'm sure.

    But whatever-- if you hate, you hate him, I guess. The key point here is simply the hyperbole of calling anything set to the Night Before Christmas "deathless prose." Umm... no. Perhaps because real inflation has been held in check for so long, people now feel the need to use language and grade inflation to compensate?

    Have a great New Year's celebration, tc, and may 2006 treat you and yours well.

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  3. zombie rotten mcdonald12/29/2005 1:26 PM

    You're right Nick: I f----ed up. A poem, of course, is not prose I should have said verse, or maybe rhyme. Or just abandoned it altogether. A weak attempt to provide some kind of hook. Otherwise, just a little harmless hyperbole, intended not to be taken seriously.

    But...Hate Lileks? naw. Can't hate someone who uses Macs. (Other than Limbaugh, maybe). Liberal obsession? I don't know, no more than the conservative conviction that he's some kind of suburban Garrison Keillor, espousing the homely comforts of hideous food and a wide screen TV.

    Over the top, condescending...I don't find those so much objectionable as maybe, I don't know, part of the package. I think it's more the triteness juxtaposed with the implacably irrational conviction of American exceptionalism and Manifest Destiny, all mixed together in an authoritarian stew and presented as The Greatest Generation II: This Time It's Personal!.

    And garnished with an unattractive bloodthirstiness that could be seen as compensation for uncertainty in his non-traditional role in the stereotypical conservative suburban drama. Constantly interspersed with accolades to Target that would embarass the product placement executives at Disney.

    No, I wouldn't say it's hatred, or obsession. It's that he just presents such a predictable, pompously ripe target, perfectly suited for satirical pricking.

    Same back atcha for 2006.

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