Category Archives: Etiquette

Updated: Oinkbama: Anti-Occident & A Bit Of A Pig

Africa, Britain, Etiquette, History, Politics, The West

Writes Iain Martin of the London Telegraph:

“President Obama has been rudeness personified towards Britain this week. His handling of the visit of the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, to Washington was appalling. First Brown wasn’t granted a press conference with flags, then one was hastily arranged in the Oval office after the Brits had to beg. Obama looked like he would rather have been anywhere else than welcoming the British leader to his office and topped it all with his choice of present (*) for the PM. A box of 25 DVDS including ET, the Wizard of Oz and Star Wars? Oh, give me strength. We do have television and DVD stores on this side of the Atlantic. Even Gordon Brown will have seen those films too often already.”

This bout of rudeness was preceded by another, after–or some say before—the inauguration: “the White House sent back to the British Embassy a bust of Sir Winston Churchill that had occupied a cherished spot in President Bush’s Oval Office. Intended as a symbol of transatlantic solidarity, the bust was a loaner from former British prime minister Tony Blair.”

Because they dislike Churchill, the usual, libertarian suspects have applauded this bit of bad manners with the customary childish glee. Without going into Second World War revisionism, one can disagree with many of Churchill’s decisions during the offensive, while at the same time recognizing what defender of the West Diana West put so well:

“It seems that what we are seeing in the return of the Churchill bust is less a personal vendetta against Churchill the man and more an open breach in the Western continuum out of which a new orientation toward the Third World will become increasingly apparent. Having achieved a Washington-like apotheosis in the American imagination, Churchill serves not only as the preeminent symbol of resolve, courage and faith against the enemies of Western civilization. He serves as a symbol of Western civilization, period. One of President Obama’s first acts as president was to consign that symbol to a box and send it packing.” [Emphasis mine]

“Like the symbolic repudiation of Churchill, Obama’s Marxist attack on free markets plays to the same factions of the radical left he once set out to ingratiate himself with as a young man.”

“When the native hears a speech about Western culture, he pulls out his knife,” wrote Frantz Fanon, the seminal theorist of anti-Western Third Worldism Obama mentioned above. When a Marxist, Third World-tilting president of the United States sees a bust of Winston Churchill, he sends it packing. He may have proven once again to the Left that he’s no sellout, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t just alienated an awful lot of the American people.

Since the media downplayed and excused OinkBama and his Mama’s poor taste, the American people were none the wiser.

Diana furnishes the perfect postscript: “I have to hand it to the prime minister for giving Churchill-dissing Obama the perfectly targeted dig with the gift of the complete set of the official Churchill biography by Martin Gilbert.”

Update (March 6): Oinkbama’s tacky behavior when hosting a foreign dignitary–the prime minister of Britain—conjures the MTV show “Cribs.” Hip-hop gangsters show off their incredibly gaudy homes, and their CD and DVD collections. Then they send the cameraman packing.

The Hassle of Hasselbeck

Conservatism, Etiquette, Pop-Culture, Race

In an uncontaminated culture, Elizabeth Hasselbeck would be seen and not heard. Alas, this lefty is the conservative movement’s brain trust on a show called “The View.” To be fair to the woman, Hasselbeck is no stupider than her co-hosts. Whoopi Goldberg, from the few snippets I’ve endured, is the best of a bad bunch.

Hasselbeck has contributed the sob and the wide-eyed stare to Socratic debate; when words fail, she weeps, splutters and uses extravagant gestures. I told you she’s brilliant.

Following Jesse Jackson’s calling Obama by the “N” word (yawn), a debate has ensued as to whether it’s ever appropriate to use the word (yawn). Hasselbeck took sanctimony to a new level and—wait a sec, while I wipe the tears—began bawling on “The View”:

“How are we supposed to move forward if we keep using words that bring back that pain?”

CAN’T WE JUST GET ALONG? (Note how crying–sentimentality–is confused with authentic compassion and imbued with virtue.)

I’ve had my fill of so-called “black pain,” which I hold between the tongs of quotation marks for a reason. But this lily-white woman weeping in empathy is even more nauseating than suffering the sight of Sean Hannity and Al Sharpton at a love-in on Fox News. (Yet more thoroughbred conservatism on show.)

In any event, I am fully on the side of Whoopi and other blacks who’ve briefed the bleeding hearts wanting to (just about) ban the word as to the proper etiquette of its use. Blacks use it among themselves and in what Obama termed the art of hip hop. Whites should probably steer clear.

As a Jew, I have been known to say the odd outlandish thing, such as, “Around 11:00PM I am seized by an Auschwitz hunger.” It’s outré (bad, Ilana). Still, I think it would be a tad ruder if a non-Jew said that. Jewish-related comments, when uttered by a gentile, could be experienced as impolite if not hurtful.

What’s the big deal? It’s common sense.

However, by the same token, if whites can recognize and respect that blacks have different cultural references, blacks should accord whites the same courtesy (that’ll be the day). That’s the real issue here.

It’s all about etiquette, courtesy and reciprocity.

Skank in the Skies

Aesthetics, Etiquette, Private Property, Sex, The Zeitgeist

The moron media is celebrating the saucy skank, who stood up to Southwest Airlines in her skimpy ensemble. Kyla Ebbert is being dragged onto every cable network set to parade the porn get-up in which she boarded the airline, only to be asked to cover up, or purchase more appropriate attire in which to travel.

Ebbert’s offending skirt is so short that hot pans would have been more modest. She sports one of those cropped wrap-around tops on top of a tank top, the purpose of which is to obscenely emphasize her huge bosom, so obviously augmented.

Mother was there to support her vacuous offspring’s “rights” and perfectly appropriate dress code. What amazes is how the tele-twits interviewing this woman (one was Matt Lauer, but women stood up for Ebbert too) kept gushing, “Wow, I can’t believe they did this to you; this outfit is just great.” Had she uncrossed her tightly wound legs, as she sat opposite her interviewers, Ebbert’s undies would be plain for all to see.

One “argument” made in support of the porn apparel (besides the heat) was that all young people Ebbert’s age dress like that. Need I dignify that?

Southwest Airlines personnel are in their right, of course, to enforce minimal dress codes on their airline, if they so wish.

That this has been developed into a news story is more revealing than the outfit.

Update: A comment below indicates how deeply misunderstood property rights are in contemporary America, a country founded on private property rights. Who owns the property onto which the Skank Ebbert set foot? The airline does!! The comment writer below has no right to deliver a speech—i.e., exercise her free-speech rights—in my living room without my permission, because, guess what? My living room is MINE.
Similarly, the airline owns the plane (although, nominally, due to government regulation). On their property, the airline owners have the right to determine how they wish people to behave and dress. I’ve explained this vis-à-vis airline security in “Who’s Property Is It Anyway?” The writer can read this column (and this one) to familiarize herself with what private property rights mean—and this does not pertain to libertarianism only. The definition of property isn’t changeable or negotiable. What’s yours is yours to do with what you may.

The writer also complained about my stooping to dignify the topic. Once again, she evinces yet another misunderstanding as to what my mandate is. In case anyone has failed to notice, I’m a commentator. I comment on the Zeitgeist. This vignette, in particular, is meta-commentary: commentary about commentary. The commentary that cuts it these days as commentary is, in itself, an important area for analysis for what it reveals about the culture we inhabit. I offer insights about the culture.

Finally, aesthetics. I understand that what I’ve termed the “porn aesthetic” is appealing to men. I don’t blame them; I blame women, who generally tend to be far more narcissistic and exhibitionist than males. A woman, moreover, can dress both provocatively and attractively. Provocative dress is more appropriate for evening wear than for daytime travel or work. That women constantly ho-up for travel and work gives us a glimpse into the “Silly Sex.”

Furthermore, there is sexy and there is skanky. Ebbert is skanky. With her genitals and mammary glands threatening to pop out of her stretched-to-the-limits garments, Ebbert’s entire demeanor screams, “Do me!”

Toilet Taliban

Etiquette, Feminism, Music

What a remarkably ill-bred, indelicate creature is singer Sheryl Crow. Read the following bons mots for a sense of creepy Crow’s planet-saving concoctions:

I have designed a clothing line that has what’s called a ‘dining sleeve.’ The sleeve is detachable and can be replaced with another ‘dining sleeve,’ after usage. The design will offer the ‘diner’ the convenience of wiping his mouth on his sleeve rather than throwing out yet another barely used paper product. I think this idea could also translate quite well to those suffering with an annoying head cold.

Raised in a barn she must have been. Her mother clearly never taught her any table manners. How crass and asinine can Crow get? Read on:

Now, I don’t want to rob any law-abiding American of his or her God-given rights, but I think we are an industrious enough people that we can make it work with only one square per restroom visit, except, of course, on those pesky occasions where 2 to 3 could be required.

I’m not sure what’s more offensive, Crow’s notion of what industry and natural rights consist of, or her filthy ideas about personal hygiene. The only thing that might redeem this toilet Taliban is the knowledge that she has a bidet in her well-appointed bathroom. Judging from what we’ve heard so far, she sure needs one.