I’m not saying something to shock you. To be honest, I don’t really give a shit what you think of my thoughts.
And this assumption that it pays to offend is absurd. Jim Gaffigan makes a fuck of a lot more money than Peter Sotos. Being a “provocateur” or a “contrarian” isn’t some ploy to blow your mind. It’s just someone saying what’s on their own mind. The fact that you find it offensive, well, that’s on you.
As our own Jim Goad put it in Shit Magnet…
“Sorry, Gumdrop, but you aren’t so important in my cosmos that I’d expend any effort trying to bruise your feelings. Hate to break it to you, but you have nothing to do with why I wonder all these things. You could walk out of the room at any time, and I’d keep wondering.”
Hit it, me…
The Myth of Shock Value
The unfortunately named Nadra Kareem Nittle recently penned a popular article instructing the ignorant about how to deal with “racist” relatives. The article was so gay that I couldn’t finish it, but it brought up a much more important question: What do you do with a family full of libtards?
If you’re a black conservative who’s sitting down with relatives for a holiday dinner, opening your mouth could lead to a lynching. Not accepting Obama as the messiah is as blasphemous as putting on a Michael Bolton record. You will be accused of doing it for “shock value.” I don’t know a lot about being a black conservative, but I do know a lot about this ridiculous “shock value” accusation. Here’s a shocker: It’s a myth.
When people use this term, I think what they’re really saying is they have become so used to being preached to by the converted, they are shocked that anyone would think differently. They are oblivious to any other opinions. It reminds me of what psychologists call “perceptual blindness,” which is the “failure by a person to notice some stimulus that is in plain sight.” As the story goes, the Indians were so confused by Columbus’s ships on the horizon, their brains refused to process the image and therefore saw nothing but water. Well, I’m sorry Injuns of the world, but those ships were real.
I’m told that Michael Savage used to be a liberal but became conservative because it pays more. That was thirty years ago. He’d have to have no heart to be conservative back then. The same goes for Dennis Miller. He was a young man in an improv troupe. He didn’t flip flop for cash. He evolved. When Malcolm X went from militant racist to groovy liberal, did the brothers say he was only pretending? Well, no, they shot him.
The assumption that someone is saying something merely to get a rise out of someone else is so boring it makes me want to cry. The same goes for the assumption that someone is only spouting an opinion because he’s paid to say it. Libertarians are constantly accused of sucking the Koch dick, but if your opinions are so flaccid that anyone can buy them, nobody’s going to listen. If someone was so inclined to pretend to be someone they’re not, they’d become an actor or a salesman. Being offensive isn’t lucrative. It’ll lose you clients, cost you your job, and even suck you into a soul-crushing lawsuit.
A contrarian isn’t someone who randomly chooses the opposite position. He’s someone who doesn’t shy away when the facts bring him to an unpopular place.
Al Franken…. Ann Coulter… Michael Savage…. Dennis Miller…
Makes me wonder what Joey Lawrence and Raven Simone are up to these days.
I dismiss your entire premise by playing the shock-card, with fists of ham.
Gavin, for all your talk about being shocking and not caring what other people think of you, you certainly have never written about the most taboo subject in our culture. In fact, there is decades worth material just waiting for you to work on; material that is actually true, but we have been so indoctrinated to never question it. For a self professed conservative or right wing guy, I am surprised that you haven’t researched this material much if at all. It is just a sprawling octopus of facts you could throw at your audience in complete shock. I am going to give you one very tiny thread to pull on, and perhaps you can follow the rabbit hole from there: Zundel. It goes far far beyond the tiny thread, so don’t stop there.
To a mindblowing extent.
Using the phrase “libtard” is as embarrassing as anything in that article. What’s next, you going to start complaining about the “lamestream media”, and “nobama?”
What’s with all the whining? It’s tiresome. Everyone else who writes for this site at least provides some brevity now and then. I’d be happier if you just posted Crass lyrics every post.
“This particular idiot’s claim was that she needs to say outrageous things because that gets people talking and gets her back on Fox News.”
He’s right.
My problem with your point of view has less to do with any “shock values” and more to do with incongruent syllogisms. I believe that you actually believe the premise of the things you want to communicate, but your use of “shock” and “spectacle” can not be disputed. You have been a provocatuer since the early nineties. Shit, that’s what attracted me to your writing in the first place. Also, Ann Coulter may not get directly paid for appearing on Fox and pumping divisive vitriol, but the increase in book sales that follow her appearances certainly lines her pockets with fat stacks.
But I get it, bro. New York is turning into a nightmare nanny state under the guise of left wing pro-social politics. I hadn’t fully understood the extent until I followed some links you had provided. Link’s that showed how stupid living in Manhattan is these days. All these stupid laws about soda and other dumb shit. But I refuse to step foot in the social swine pit that is the East Coast anyway.
Here on the West Coast our idea of left wing politics is more or less centered around access to real and solid education free for everybody. Paid for by…gasp…TAXES!!! Capitalism is rendered unfair and untenable if a level playing ground is not established for society. Therefore we should not tax the rich to give hand outs to the poor, rather we should tax everybody fairly to provide equal access to free education for everybody.
And also we need a better regulated health care system. Both these institutions (education and health care) exist outside the parameters of Capitalism and the free market. And way outside the parameters of Pig Capitalism. Finding treatment for an illness is not the same as choosing a new car or the responsibilities bound by consumerism. Nobody chooses to be born and nobody chooses to get sick. To subject the sick and the poor to the shark infested waters of the free market is a moral abomination. By denying education and access to affordable health care to our citizens we create a slave state on the one hand or a third worldian degenerate state on the other hand. Neither of which is good for our nation. And if the right wing can’t wrap their pea brains around that, then they are Satanists who deserve the rod.
All apologies for the long ass comment.
@McClintock
re education: Sounds nice in theory but look it up. Pouring money into education does nothing to test scores. The only thing that works is some kind of free market capitalism where teachers can actually get fired. That means voucher programs and charter schools.
re healthcare: Sounds nice in theory but America isn’t Canada or Britain. There are 15m illegals in this country not to mention the millions of lazy obese morons. They’re already bankrupting hospitals. Throwing money at them won’t help things.
@McClintock
There is no such thing as compassionate Capitalism. Capitalism is a system where a small minority of people/corps run shit (winners) and a cascading gradient of peons do the actual work (losers). Its that easy. Now, if you start making it so the benefits of the winners (health care/job stability/education,etc) start being GIVEN to the losers, then you don’t have Capitalism. In addition, the incentive to create,do,and improve our world evaporates when that starts to happen. Humans aren’t “good” enough yet to do shit without the threat of punishment (homelessness,death,discomfort,etc.) and the prizes of victory (wealth,hoes,etc.) in play. Evolve the human race another few thousand years and then we’ll talk. Till then, WHERE’S MY JAEGERBOMB, COCKTAIL SERVANT!?!?
where can I get one of those stickers?
“I’m telling you guys, I really don’t care what you think! Do ya hear me? It would be unproductive and bad for business to care what you think! Guys? GUYS?”
@McClintock, resources for education are nice in social theory, the problem is that the educational system in this country is too big to address its problems by simply throwing money at it. Most of the problems are not due to funding, its due to no one actually having an idea of what the aim of education for the majority of children in the middle of the spectrum, to make their way in the world should actually be. This whole idea of the opportunity of a college bound educational tract, as a one size fits all model, is a liberal pipe dream. It’s great and humane in theory, but doesn’t do anything at all for the millions of children who aren’t destined for college, have never seen an example of anyone who has in their neighborhoods or households, and aren’t going to be doctors, lawyers, or engineers, but would benefit if someone taught them a class about all the possibilities of working for yourself or being your own business. We’d be better served bringing back technical education on a large scale, or teaching a lot of kids about sales and marketing possibilities while they’re in school to be successfully self employed and making their own opportunities in life.
yeah….wher can i get an anal cunt anne coulter sticker????
I suspect that most contrarians take their positions not to be provocative or shocking, but rather to impress their intellect upon others.
Here are the stickers
http://hornbuckle.bigcartel.com/product/ann-coulter-axcx-parody-stickers
[...] Gavin McInnes: [...]