11
Oh, Please
Here’s Robert Farley, in a spectacularly irresponsible parenthetical aside to an otherwise sensible post about the Christian fundamentalist-AIPAC alliance:
loathing of “latte sipping elitist intellectuals” is recognizable as anti-semitism to anyone with eyes open
You have got to be shitting me.
This is the sort of gift to the right-wing Identity Politickers and Corporate Whores that only a well-paid, hippie-hating academic can give. In one phrase, Farley’s outdone in spades all the Julia Gorins and David Brookses and Norman Podhoretzes of wingnuttia’s “Let’s Cheapen and Expand the Definition of Anti-Semitism Until it Means Nothing Yet Applies to the Entire Left” brigade and at the same time utterly smeared and potentially hamstrung the entire Left Populist movement.
Fuckola. And the sad thing is, he’ll probably get away with it and the formulation will gain traction even on the Left because of sore feelings about so many pro-Clinton bloggers sneering at “latte-sipping elitists” in bad faith. Blargh. The truth is, there are too many latte-sipping elitist ‘intellectuals,’ Sensible Liberal and Wingnut, who couldn’t give two shits about American poor people. And saying so doesn’t make one an anti-Semite. It isn’t an Obama vs. Clinton thing; it’s a Creative Class/New Class/Middle & Upper Middle Class (over-represented on the internet) vs. Working Poor/Blue Collar (under-represented on the internet) thing. (Indeed, the first person I think of as a “latte-sipping elitist” is Brad DeLong — a WASP.) Farley’s a nice guy in e-mail, but such things don’t make up for his political cluelessness. He should stick to writing about baseball, a subject on which he is perceptive and righteous.
henry lewis said,
June 11, 2008 at 16:31
Well, Farley thinks he knows what other people think of ‘LSEIs’.
And you think you know what ‘LSEIs’ feel.
And I think that ‘LSEIs’ are a definable group, all with the same thoughts, desires and prejudices.
It’s possible all three of us are wrong.
henry lewis said,
June 11, 2008 at 16:33
I fucked that up.
I meant I don’t think…
[slinking away]
pedestrian said,
June 11, 2008 at 16:35
I’m more of a latte slurper. Where does that put me?
atheist said,
June 11, 2008 at 16:38
Stuff like this is always reminds me that Americans, and maybe people in general, tend to view politics dualistically until they train themselves away from it. That there could be more than one group that hates “latte-sipping elitist intellectuals”, and that the anti-LSEI groups might not even be allies, apparently doesn’t cross Farley’s mind here.
atheist said,
June 11, 2008 at 16:39
And, full disclosure, I might be described as an LSEI.
Ann Althouse's Slowly Tilting Wine Glass said,
June 11, 2008 at 16:42
Oh, this will end well.
atheist said,
June 11, 2008 at 16:46
I’m more of a latte slurper.
Yeah… what about us?
And the espresso mainliners, what about them?
atheist said,
June 11, 2008 at 16:55
Holy shit, I just read the “Why are left-wingers so mad about Pinochet?” post from 2006. Whoah. WTF?
not even an mba said,
June 11, 2008 at 17:09
And the espresso mainliners, what about them?
Fucking lattes, waste of a perfectly good espresso machine.
“Let’s Cheapen and Expand the Definition of Anti-Semitism Until it Means Nothing Yet Applies to the Entire Left”
Maybe some Jews hate teh ghey and colored and Mex-islamo-commies more than they fear the thumpers. But the Anti-Semite! Anti-Semite! Anti-Semite! chorus means it’s hard to call them out on it. I look forward to the day when we have progressed to the stage where minorities who act like assholes can be called assholes.
Argo-chock full o'-nauts said,
June 11, 2008 at 17:13
Well, since I am a latte-hating semite-loving elitist intellectual, it’s clear that Italian coffee is the link to anti-semitism. Drink it and be damned.
Wossamatta U., ‘67
Emperor U.S.A. (the naked truth) said,
June 11, 2008 at 17:13
Well said, Mencken.
tigrismus said,
June 11, 2008 at 17:15
Latte for breakfast, espresso for the rest of the day. Sleep? Sounds dangerous, what is it?
Arky H8r of VurdPress said,
June 11, 2008 at 17:27
Hatred of latte slurpers is recognizable as homophobia to anyone with … ahh, I can’t do it.
Jon H said,
June 11, 2008 at 17:31
Starbucks has 38 stores in Arkansas, 62 in Kansas, 72 in Alabama.
The “latte-sipping elitist” bullshit needs to die.
WereBear said,
June 11, 2008 at 17:33
I loved the way Obama added “sprout eating” to the dreaded latte liberal list.
Man gets it.
Righteous Bubba said,
June 11, 2008 at 17:40
I think this is a mountain-out-of-a-molehill post…a commenter down the thread over there helpfully points out that the word “New York” was left out.
Jason said,
June 11, 2008 at 17:49
I don’t think the Mountain Dew-toting pedestrians are that big on the Jews either. I assume that, at least, when I see ‘em walking home from the Greyhound stop - I think to myself, An alliance with them is not sensible. Hey, wait, I feel an op-ed coming on…
pedestrian said,
June 11, 2008 at 17:57
Mountain Dew-toting pedestrians
I only toted it once, and I didn’t imbibe.
Quicksand said,
June 11, 2008 at 18:06
You elitists and your foreign coffee drinking habits. I only drink DIET COKE because it’s AMERICAN.
And stuff.
J— said,
June 11, 2008 at 18:14
The connection is obvious. Tevye was a milkman. You don’t like lattes, you don’t like Tevye. You don’t like Tevye, you don’t like the Jews. Read your Sholem Aleichem.
kc said,
June 11, 2008 at 18:15
loathing of “latte sipping elitist intellectuals” is recognizable as anti-semitism to anyone with eyes open
I gotta say, that’s never even crossed my mind.
Are Starbucks lattes kosher?
David Naughton said,
June 11, 2008 at 18:18
Diet Dr Pepper is where it’s at.
Dan Someone said,
June 11, 2008 at 18:20
Are Starbucks lattes kosher?
Depends on how you kill them.
not even an mba said,
June 11, 2008 at 18:25
Hey, it was all a big misunderstanding! What he meant to write is
latke sipping elitist intellectuals
Although I don’t know how you’d sip them. I guess that’s what the sour cream is for.
Righteous Bubba said,
June 11, 2008 at 18:26
latke sipping elitist intellectuals
Awesome.
Comrade Rutherford said,
June 11, 2008 at 18:29
I am more ‘liberal’ than any one else I know (except for my wife - yeah we got married, but only for the health insurance!)
I drive an old volvo, I wear sandals, I certainly am intellectual.
But Lattés SUCK! Seriously, an ounce of foamed milk with a drop of coffee flavoring? EEEWWWW! and it’s such a ripoff! As far as fancy European styles of coffee, I stop at Cappuccino, at least then your getting some coffee in the cup!
And Starbucks is more evil than WalMart. I watched them come into NYC. They handed landlords huge cash rents to try to displace ancient, famous coffee shops run by 4th generation Italian families. And in many cases, the landlords took the bribe money and kicked the small businesses out to let the faceless multinational corporation take over. Starbucks is EVIL and will NEVER have a dime of my money. Anyone that spends money at Starbucks is supporting exactly the GOP excessive-greed mindset that has ruined America forever.
Real Liberals Don’t Drink Starbucks!
Comrade Rutherford said,
June 11, 2008 at 18:32
“Starbucks has 38 stores in Arkansas, 62 in Kansas, 72 in Alabama.
The “latte-sipping elitist” bullshit needs to die.”
The reason Starbucks is there is so that when President-For-Life Cheney declares Martial Law (sometime before 1/19/2008), it will be easier for all the rednecks to hunt the liberals: just shot everyone near any Starbucks!
It’s just like putting out a salt-lick to attract dear during hunting season. Sure it’s illegal to bait dear into your kill zone, but who’s gonna stop ‘em?
Comrade Rutherford said,
June 11, 2008 at 18:33
Uh, that should be 1/19/2009…
SamFromUtah said,
June 11, 2008 at 18:34
I loved the way Obama added “sprout eating” to the dreaded latte liberal list.
That was a good one. Tom Buffenbarger’s addition of “Prius-driving” would have been good if he hadn’t been serious about it.
Jonah Goldberg said,
June 11, 2008 at 18:43
I’m not saying that people who eat sprouts are Nazis - perish the thought. I’m just pointing out that Hitler loved salads, and vegetables are the food of the so-called “master race”. Some might point out that they are also the food of rabbits. I do not attempt to deny this. Indeed, it is central to my point. Volkswagen named one of their cars the “Rabbit.” Any one of these things could be a mere coincidence, but all of them? Critical thinkers who think thinky thoughts for themselves are forced to conclude that liberal elite sprouts-eaters are the ideological descendants of
Nazisthe Volkswagen Engineering Department, circa 1975Bugs Bunnythis guy.not even an mba said,
June 11, 2008 at 18:57
Hey Jonah, just read your latest. You seem to be getting fixated on food, which hurts me a lot since I swore off fat jokes just a few days ago. I’m glad to see your depth of understanding us fascist liberals or else I wouldn’t know that I had to oppose privatization no matter what. By the way, how’s the new book coming?
tigrismus said,
June 11, 2008 at 19:02
Comrade Rutherford, both cappuccinos and lattes have one shot of espresso; cappuccinos are usually 1:1:1(so 1/3 coffee, 2/3 milk in various forms), lattes 1:3, with little or no foam. But don’t be such a hater, they’re breakfast drinks, for crying out loud! Not everyone wants to mainline coffee bean slurry first thing in the morning.
not even an mba said,
June 11, 2008 at 19:10
Real Islamo-lefty-atheistic-terror-loving-homo-lie-bruls drink turkish coffee.
Snorghagen said,
June 11, 2008 at 19:11
Does wood shop count as a Creative Class?
Caitlin Sith said,
June 11, 2008 at 19:12
After McCain’s latest foray into lit-crit, we have to add “Roth-reading” to the litany (no word on whether Henry, Joseph, and David Lee are included).
atheist said,
June 11, 2008 at 19:12
Not everyone wants to mainline coffee bean slurry first thing in the morning.
Speak for yourself tigrismus!
tigrismus said,
June 11, 2008 at 19:18
Well, now, I figured the “not everyone wants” implied some do. If your perfect cup makes you say “mmmm, chunky” well hell, more power to you.
atheist said,
June 11, 2008 at 19:21
Tigrismus, don’t take this the wrong way, but every time I see your handle I think of this.
Did you intend anything like that?
SomeNYGuy said,
June 11, 2008 at 19:24
Starbucks has 38 stores in Arkansas, 62 in Kansas, 72 in Alabama.
And 237 stores in the half-mile between my home and my office. You’d think just one of those could be open 24 hours, but noooooo…..
SamFromUtah said,
June 11, 2008 at 19:26
Does wood shop count as a Creative Class?
Depends on what you build there. If you make a gun rack, no. If you make frilly scroll-sawed stuff, yes.
And if you build a solar cooker, you’re a DFH.
spencer said,
June 11, 2008 at 19:29
And Starbucks is more evil than WalMart
There are a lot of legitimate criticisms that can be made of Starbucks, but this one is ridiculous.
They handed landlords huge cash rents to try to displace ancient, famous coffee shops run by 4th generation Italian families. And in many cases, the landlords took the bribe money and kicked the small businesses out to let the faceless multinational corporation take over.
I’m curious: does that make the landlords more evil, less evil, or exactly as evil as Starbucks?
One thing you don’t see Starbucks do (which WalMart does) is drive out competing shops with predatory pricing strategies, and then jack up the cost for a latte as soon as all the indie shops within a two-mile radius are closed. I know several independent coffee shop owners who have told me that they *like* having Starbucks around, because the big bad corporate chain has the power to establish a high standard price for the same product they’re selling. Additionally, I’ve seen evidence that having a Starbucks in close proximity to an independent shop actually *boosts* the indie shop’s business by bringing more coffee drinkers to that block. Starbucks is actually aware of this phenomenon and does not like it, but has so far been powerless to change it.
So go ahead and affect your anti-corporate pose if you like. There’s a lot to hate about corporate America, and Starbucks is certainly part of that. But when you write stupid things like “Starbucks is more evil than WalMart,” you really come off looking like a poseur with a chip on your shoulder.
tigrismus said,
June 11, 2008 at 19:34
Atheist: nope, I didn’t intend anything like that. Or anything else for that matter, it was intention-free. I’ll have to study the poem for a while to decide if I should be offended or not, though… ;-)
Jon H said,
June 11, 2008 at 19:34
” Not everyone wants to mainline coffee bean slurry first thing in the morning.”
In that case, go for the coffee enema.
Caitlin Sith said,
June 11, 2008 at 19:34
And here is the definitive Jewish observation about latte (2:10 mark on)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nokGwO7MTwg&feature=related
Jonah Goldberg said,
June 11, 2008 at 19:43
Thanks not even an mba, the book is going very well. One of the chapters is about Mandeville and how he is the central, intrinsic and driving forces in modern leftist thought. I, however, am unfamiliar with his work and I have neither the time nor the interest to become familiar with it before making it such an important part of the subtitle that it actually has to be included in the book, itself. So if any of you out there are Mandeville scholars, I would welcome the opportunity to exchange a few emails with you, which I feel would be sufficient to make me informed enough to comment on him in a book. I know I will receive criticism from the gatekeepers of the ivory tower “experts” for taking this approach, but as I’ve pointed out before, the information they’re so proud of (have liberals never considered that a little humility might get them farther? evidently not) is no match for my superior judgment.
mikey said,
June 11, 2008 at 20:08
Oh ho, you guys are SO fucked.
I’m over here. I have no college, I’ve never even tasted a Latte, I’m pretty sure that nobody would be able to find much with which to accuse me of being an elitest.
So madcap lefty that I might be, it’s starting to sound like when they come to put you doods in the camps they’re gonna walk right past me.
Like I’m invisible.
Hee hee…
mikey
Lawnguylander said,
June 11, 2008 at 20:25
I think lattes suck and are a total ripoff. I like that chunky variety of coffee they sell for $1.50 a large cup at my local Korean grocery store and at the Salvadoran bodega. I mention this in hopes that it might make me seem authentic and not like some oppressive-creative-class-elitist who cares not a whit for people less fortunate than me. But if I ever non-ironically use breakfast beverage choices to classify my political enemies, would somebody please kick me right in my ass? Or at least throw a pie in my face? Pretty please? I might get pissed off at first but I would appreciate it somewhere down the road I’m sure.
tb said,
June 11, 2008 at 20:28
Famous for what? As I understand it, New York always had something of a reputation for having shitty coffee. But that kind of thing happened to a lot of cities in the 90’s; blaming it just on Starbuck’s is a little silly. Blame instead your shitty local government which allowed/encouraged it. Here in Portland they mostly “displaced” things like a Winchell’s Donuts, a 7-11, a parking lot, and part of a Safeway store, while the number of independent coffee shops has exploded. So it’s hard to get real worked up about them.
pedestrian said,
June 11, 2008 at 21:01
In that case, go for the coffee enema.
As someone who has actually tried this (mostly for the hell of it) I can only give it 3 1/2 stars. Yes, it does give you a great zing. However, it doesn’t really help the gross factor of the discolored water, knowing that it might just be the coffee. In fact, it kind of makes you wonder about coffee from there on out. Also, you want to get the temperature right.
not even an mba said,
June 11, 2008 at 21:12
And Starbucks is more evil than WalMart
Personally I despise Starbucks and their fruitifying of real coffee. Quit jamming ridiculous vowel-sound ending words onto the names of your beverages, some of us just want coffee, not a coffee experience. But Starbucks is not anymore evil than any other huge multi-national. Significantly less than Wal-Mart at least. Spencer’s made the excellent point that Starbucks doesn’t kill local businesses and empty out towns. I’d like to point out that they treat their employees orders of magnitude better.
DocAmazing said,
June 11, 2008 at 21:47
First they came for the lattes, but I said nothing, for I don’t drink lattes.
Then they came for the espresso, which kinda pissed me off, but I said nothing, for I prefer Turkish coffee.
Then they came for the Darjeeling, and there was no one left to pour me a refill.
pedestrian said,
June 11, 2008 at 21:58
Wait… you call the guy who pours your Turkish coffee “the Darjeeling”?
not even an mba said,
June 11, 2008 at 22:03
You don’t pour turkish coffee, you chisel it out.
SomeNYGuy said,
June 11, 2008 at 22:05
Little Georgie Butch travels with his own pillow. Won’t go anywhere without it. Can’t sleep on any other. Can you get any more pampered and elitist than that?
Anne Laurie said,
June 11, 2008 at 22:57
RB is correct — it’s the “Noo Yark Cit-tay” appellation that’s supposed to identify Teh Jews (aka “the brand of Semite it is not good fReichtard policy to hate in public”). The trope goes back a lot farther than Jerry Seinfeld; at midwestern Moo U in the mid-1970s, when I told other freshpersons I’d grown up in NYC, I was suprised that approximately one out of five immediately assumed I must be Jewish. Even the nice Jewish kids from Royal Oak and Dearborn thought *all* New Yorkers, including red-headed bogtrotters like yours truly, should be considered Jewish until proven otherwise.
pedestrian said,
June 11, 2008 at 23:09
I just assumed that all New Yorkers were jive-talking black guys, ethnic cabbies, evil yuppies, and hookers with hearts of gold.
Brandi said,
June 11, 2008 at 23:10
I’m not really a coffee drinker to begin with, but Starbucks coffee doesn’t even *smell* appealing to me– they over-roast it.
Their green tea lemonades are nice if a bit overpriced, though.
SomeNYGuy said,
June 11, 2008 at 23:45
I just assumed that all New Yorkers were jive-talking black guys, ethnic cabbies, evil yuppies, and hookers with hearts of gold.
Let me assure you that I, personally, am all of the above. Also a dessert topping and a floor wax.
Smut Clyde said,
June 12, 2008 at 1:15
LatteBeer for breakfast,espressomugfulls of black poison half-full of sludge for the rest of the day.This is what I remember from Prague.
War-Mitzfah War is Tikkun Olam said,
June 12, 2008 at 1:53
AIPAC’s problem for Liberals is that it uses the support of Christian Fundamentalists. There’s no problem with AIPAC itself, afterall jews are to liberals and neocons poisecuted minority number one, “ve vere in zee ghettos foist, oy it vas terrible I tell you! No bagels!”
These Judeo-Neocons and Judeo-liberals are the reason for this secular “tollerant” war (faught by all races and creeds of the great America!) for Israel that has killed millions of Iraqs in the name of “freedom”.
Only the “anti-semite” and “racist” (the tribalist, much like what we fighting in Iraq) is vindicated from the tyranny of this war.
It Is *Dancing*!!!! » Memorandum to HTML Mencken said,
June 12, 2008 at 2:04
[...] I respectfully disagree. While I can’t vouch for the original author, I do feel that two things are both very true and very alarming: [...]
War-Mitzfah War is Tikkun Olam said,
June 12, 2008 at 4:16
America: a contest for who is the least anti-semitic, and who is philo-semite number one, to which everyone and everything else is comparatively anti-semitic.
Thursday said,
June 12, 2008 at 6:14
Man, I keep forgetting which economic class I’m supposed to be:
I own my home (mortgage free) - but it’s all of 600 sqare feet in size;
I live in a rural community packed full of rednecks - who are union sympathyzers;
I’m a high school dropout - who loves parasitology, theology, engineering, and Mental Floss;
I write for theatre - and hate Italian candy-drinks that fake being coffee;
I’m in favour of estate taxes - and have inherited about $250,000 from oil wells in Alberta so far.
I work in a Big Box Store - and love going out for $250 meals.
What the h-e-double-hockey-sticks am I? Lower middle class? Oil-rich poseur? Pretentious middle brow?
Could somebody do a chart or something? Please?
cowalker said,
June 12, 2008 at 7:55
I didn’t know John Kerry was Jewish.
McCain's Third Trophy Wife said,
June 12, 2008 at 17:50
I reserve my contempt for Cadillac welfare queens, family farmers crippled by the estate tax, elves, and unicorns.
Marc said,
June 12, 2008 at 18:29
Just what this country needs:
Yet another person who thinks that sneering at intellectuals as opposed to real (TM) Americans is the path to success. Except, this time, it will help progressives. Does this work like the underpants gnomes in South Park?
Appealing to superficial class stereotypes doesn’t do us the slightest good. Farley is actually right here…
kiche said,
June 12, 2008 at 22:05
Hi, I’m from the deep south. And well, crazy evangelical christians DO believe that coffee shops are full of communist jews who want to destroy rural American christians.
So, I think he’s right about the antisemitism when it comes from the likes of people like Hagee.
fred said,
June 13, 2008 at 3:03
Sigh! Yet another liberal bringing a knife to a gun-fight. You don’t fight the right by sadly deploring the overuse of the charge of anti-semitism; you turn it against them. “loathing of “latte sipping elitist intellectuals” is recognizable as anti-semitism to anyone with eyes open” is freaking brilliant. That’s somebody I want on my side.
suecris said,
June 13, 2008 at 6:45
I’m semi-intellectual in the midwest and I’ve got to tell you, Starbucks is much more popular here in Mizzourah with Republicans than with liberals. I loathe Starbucks myself, but it seems to have filled a niche here. Imagined (or real) inferiority can be cast off by sporting a coffee milkshake as a prop.
David Lloyd-Jones said,
June 13, 2008 at 15:34
Factoid du jour: the average estimate of all Americans asked “How many Americans are Jewish?” is about 40%.
It may be just because we do about 40% of everything worthwhile in America…
Now of course we do about 25% of the fuck-ups, but on balance…
Miracle Max said,
June 13, 2008 at 18:59
Farley is too quick in this post to call anti-semitism, but many of you gloss over the the fact that in anti-semitic lore, the Jew is likened to a cosmopolitan, plutocrat elite of suspect ideology with no allegiance to country. This is a very important theme in the history of anti-semitism which rears its head perioidically in wingnut rhetoric. That’s what the right is invoking when they rant about George Soros.
Sadly, No! » I Am an Anti-Semite and I Should Thank the Folks Who Tell Me So said,
June 15, 2008 at 2:08
[...] contempt for cultural and political elites anti-Semitic and rightwing in origin? Apparently it is: Farley’s definition could not be broader. Since I, like many (most?) poor people, despise a large portion of the [...]
The Texas Blue said,
June 17, 2008 at 23:30
FOX News Gets The Fever…
Apparently the producers at FOX News learned the lessons of Richard Nixon and Lee Atwater quite well. Via Sadly, No:
Wow. A Princeton Bachelor’s, a Harvard J.D., employment at Sidley Austin, the City of Chicago and the University of Chicago only ge…