FRIDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2024
Plus, our own tribe's Angry Blue Males: Judging from the historical record, isn't easy being one of These Angry Male Comedians Today.
A few days ago, we noted the fact that we knew Rob Schneider a tiny tad in the summer of 85. We were in San Francisco for the annual Comedy Competition. We had a mutual friend, an excellent young guy we knew from the Boston comedy scene who has recently moved to that Baghdad.
Rob was very young at the time; he'd just turned 22. We don't think we knew it at the time, but we came close to sharing the old school system tie:
According to the leading authority on such origins, he was a Terra Nova High School grad. We were a graduate of Aragon High, right there in the very same San Mateo County.
Rob was a thoroughly OK guy at the time. We will assume he still is.
Last Sunday, Rob opened for incoming President Trump at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFestivus 2024. According to the leading authority, getting there hasn't been easy.
Sometimes, the powers that be simply aren't willing to hear. As one example, the leading authority on such matters records this incident:
Rob Schneider
Schneider was born in San Francisco, California on October 31, 1963, and grew up in the nearby suburb of Pacifica. His parents were Pilar (née Monroe), a former kindergarten teacher and ex-school board president, and Marvin Schneider, a real estate broker...Schneider graduated from Terra Nova High School in 1982 and then attended San Francisco State University.
[...]
Schneider was spokesperson for State Farm Insurance but was dropped in 2014 due to his anti-vaccination views.
[...]
During the 2023 holiday season, Schneider was hired to perform a standup show at an event put on by the Senate Working Group. The performance was scheduled to last half an hour, but was cut short 10 minutes in due to offensive materials. Attendees were sent letters of apology after the performance.
Rob is entitled to his views in much the same way you are. For a report on the behavior of that Senate Working Group, you can just click this.
At any rate, attendees were sent letters of apology! The leading authority provides this additional example of the reactions of These Humorless Groups Today:
In June 2024, Schneider performed in Saskatchewan at a fundraising event for the Hospitals of Regina Foundation fundraiser (a Canadian medical not-for-profit organization), where he told jokes about vaccines, women, and transgender people. He was removed from the stage in the middle of his set by event organizers, who later apologized for his behavior.
Removed from the stage again, with yet another apology! Here goes the background on that one. We'll also tell you this:
In 1996, Schneider established the Rob Schneider Music Foundation. The foundation returned music education to Pacifica's elementary schools by paying the teachers' salaries and providing funds for instruments and other equipment. Prior to Schneider's efforts, the school system had been without music education programs for years.
That sounds like a good thing to do. Still and all, the apologies seem to be following Rob around in these latter days. Inevitably, this may have led to his selection as Donald Trump's opening act.
What are Rob's "anti-vaccination views?" With respect to that question, we aren't fully informed. According to the leading authority, the history of his partisan affiliation goes exactly like this:
In 2013, Schneider switched political parties from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party, explaining: "The state of California is a mess, and the super majority of Democrats is not working. I've been a lifelong Democrat and I have to switch over because it no longer serves the people of this great state." He endorsed Republican candidate Tim Donnelly for the 2014 California gubernatorial election.
In an interview on Larry King Now in 2017, Schneider said he was an independent but leaned more conservative.
In July 2023, Schneider endorsed candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. In August 2024, following Kennedy's suspension of his campaign, Schneider endorsed candidate Donald Trump. Schneider was a headliner at the 2024 Moms for Liberty convention.
That doesn't track our own set of partisan assessments. But he probably isn't the only person who has decided, along the way, that California's Democratic Party may not have everything right.
In Rob's case, this seems to have led to his recent presentation, where, according to our own lights, he showed imperfect judgment on at least several occasions, as for example when he pictured Candidate Harris getting herself beat up.
These angry male comedians today! Increasingly, the so-called "democratization of media" has created a world in which they've joined with former professional "wrestlers" and the like to drive our flailing American discourse, such as it ever has been.
In our view, this arrangement hasn't been working especially well. When we watched Die Hard the other night, we were struck by the backlash gender politics on display in this 1988 film, which performative males on the Fox News Chanel tend to hail as their favorite "Christmas film."
As we noted yesterday, the high-income wife of the Gotham cop has reverted to using her original name at the start of the film. By the end of the film, she was safely tucked back on his arm, and she'd gone back to using his name!
(We haven't mentioned Deuce Bigalow once, nor are we planning to do so, though a certain amount of gender discomfort may seem to be lurking there. This may be the oldest wiring in the human playbook.)
At any rate, so it goes as These Angry Males Today may occasionally seem to pursue an angry throwback gender politics. On Fox, it's typically mixed with a supreme sense of confidence in the wisdom of their own assessments, which everyone else in the "panel discussion" is destined to agree with.
Susan Faludi, come on down! The gender backlash was general over the presentations in Die Hard. According to the leading authority on the film, this fact has been mentioned along the way by various observers. Among many examples, we'll settle for this:
Die Hard
Die Hard has been critically re-evaluated and is now considered one of the greatest action films of all time...Retrospective commentators also identified and analyzed its thematic concerns, including vengeance, masculinity, gender roles, and American anxieties over foreign influences. Due to its Christmas setting, Die Hard is often named one of the best Christmas films of all time, although its status as a Christmas film is disputed.
[...]
To shape the McClanes' relationship, [screenwriter Jeb] Stuart also drew upon the marital problems of his peers, including divorces and ex-wives reverting to use their maiden name.
Women using their original names, plus officious foreign nations! It's no wonder this frequently silly summer film lingers as a major hit among the self-assured males at Fox!
Then again, we may occasionally stumble across the angry offerings of the angry males over here in our own Blue America. For that, we direct you to the comments section accompanying this recent post by Kevin Drum.
We expect to start with those comments next week as we finally force ourselves to explain why (some) people (may have) voted for Candidate Trump. Though we ourselves voted for Candidate Harris, we think there's something like a million (possible) reasons for some such vote in the naked city.
We can think of many such (possible) reasons. All too often, those of us in Blue America can't seem to imagine even one!
In his post, Kevin recorded some statements from a new report in the Washington Post—statements made by lower-income Trump voters in New Castle, Pennsylvania. Next week, we'll briefly comment on Kevin's reaction to those remarks by those four (4) people, but we expect to comment in more detail about a significant number of the comments to Kevin's post.
As we've often acknowledged, no one else will ever be as smart, or as morally perfect, as those of us in Blue America! Over here in Blue America, we've long been remarkably sure of that fact, and many remarks by Kevin's commenters help drive that basic fact home.
Why would a decent person ever have decided to vote for Candidate Trump? Dear physician, heal thyself? Dear commenters, look in the mirror?
ReplyDelete"As we noted yesterday, the high-income wife of the Gotham cop has reverted to using her original name at the start of the film. By the end of the film, she was safely tucked back on his arm, and she'd gone back to using his name! "
That's nothing; I'm sure hardly anyone paid any attention to that. I certainly didn't.
It would be more interesting if she became a trans man at the start, and back to being a woman by the end.
Movies that are popular are not necessarily realistic. Whatever problems McLain had with his wife occurred within their relationship, inside their household and marriage, not in a large building full of workers being held hostage. She may have been impressed with his actions to save all those people, but if McLain didn't change his behavior in their marriage, that marriage wouldn't last beyond the end of the film, no matter how grateful she was to stay alive.
DeleteWomen leave men (and vice versa) for reasons. If the reasons remain, the tensions will too and the marriage will again be untenable. Therapy works to keep people together. Shooting guns doesn't. So the film is nonsense when it comes to gender relations. It may appeal to men to believe that if they just get tough and be more manly in front of their wives, that will bring them running back. Macho behavior is more likely to drive wives away than resolve divorce problems. But the movies like to pretend otherwise, particularly in action films, because that is what men want to hear. They don't want to hear that they have to do some emotional work and try to change their behavior and be nicer to their wives and kids if they want to save their marriages. This ending on Die Hard is no different than the cliche guy getting the girl after being brave in any fantasy movie. It isn't real.
Anonymouse 9:54am, Mrs. McClane may have reverted to her husband’s surname, but the movie makes it clear that she is just as dogged and resourceful as her husband. Their marital problems may be that they are too much alike.
DeleteJohn wasn’t good in bed.
DeleteCecelia, that's an incisive take. Credit where credit is due.
Delete
DeleteOnce Mrs. McClane was a wholesome woman, like Corby. She even played bridge and drove Tesla.
But white-supremacist patriarchy changed her; made her opportunistic and resourceful.
Hotel porters kept her in touch with her feminine side.
DeleteSomerby is misogynistic.
DeleteAnd racistic.
DeleteOh I get it. Die Hard is a feminist movie.
DeleteBwahahahahahahahaha!
Diehard is a battery.
DeleteCecelia is “forgetting” to use her nym again.
DeleteDoes Cecelia even know whether being “too much alike” drives people apart? Actually similarity attracts people and strengthens a relationship.
DeleteThe commenters on this blog also have a divisive, echo-chamber mentality, refusing to consider the motivations of those outside their ideological bubble and avoiding good faith engagement with differing perspectives at all costs. They creating barriers to open dialogue and understanding in the same way cults do.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. The Trump cultists here are exactly as you described them.
DeleteWhy does Somerby keep mentioning that the wife in the film is "high income"? Is he trying to suggest that she took such a job only for the money and not because she wanted to exercise her talents and abilities? She is portrayed as doing smart things and helping to save lives too in the film, with good choices as an executive. Somerby seems to have missed that part of the film. Somerby may have only been focused on the rival exec who tries to flirt with her, missing that she is admired by the big boss for her work efforts, not her appearance. She is earning those big bucks. Willis shows that he is competent too, in his job as a cop. But Willis gets to see his wife in action and discovers her worth along the way. That suggests he may become more accepting of her work. Somerby leaves all that out of his synopsis. Does he not remember it? Men who are oblivious to the talents of their wives don't tend to hold on to them in the long run, for good reasons in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI don't know. I didn't see it.
DeleteThanks for sharing, 10:33.
DeleteI don't know either.
DeleteNeither do I.
DeleteMy wife doesn't know either.
DeleteNeither does mine.
DeleteDrum's commenters are talking about the triumph of disinformation and the stupidity of the other side forgetting that two months ago they were all afraid Trump was going to have Nancy Pelosi executed.
ReplyDeleteTrump will likely get around to executing Nancy.
DeleteIt is a mistake to believe that Trump will not pursue his bizarro plans just because they are obviously crazy to a rational person. What makes you think we on the left have stopped worrying about who Trump will use the DOJ to go after? He has promised to do it, and look what the right tried to do to Hunter Biden.
DeleteTrump has been itching to execute people -- that's why Biden pardoned all but 3 of the death row federal prisoners. Biden has always been against the death penalty (perhaps as part of his Catholic religious views). This act will leave Trump with no one to kill, so of course he will take that out on Milley and Pelosi and drug dealers (whose execution he has called for too, imitating Duterte) and whoever else he takes it into his head to kill.
DeleteWhy is it that Republicans cannot see how warped Trump is now? But Cecelia thinks it is a hoot to poke at the liberals by suggesting that the 84 year old former Speaker of the House should be killed for political reasons. Cecelia is an awful person to think this is a funny joke, but so is Somerby and Trump himself. And this is why liberals cannot believe Trump won. Because who in their right mind jokes about this, much less says he is going to do it, as Trump has.
If Kamala Harris and Joe Biden aren’t held accountable, the Democrats will never stop committing crimes.
Delete
DeleteWasn't he supposed to have Nancy raped, 50 years ago, in a phone booth? Because she finds rape sexy? Or was it some other Nancy?
I know moonbats find executions sexy, and keep dreaming about them.
It’s quite easy to find GOP politicians (or “moon bats”) as you call them, calling their political opponents traitors and calling for their execution. (Michele Morrow of North Carolina, comes quickly to mind). You’d be hard pressed to find any Dem politician saying anything remotely like this.
DeleteAnonymouse 10:62am, the only relevant discussion at this point is the odds on who will go first- Pelosi or Cheney.
DeleteNancy threw everyone for a loop by breaking a hip, so my is Cheney.
Oh, Ccelia. 10:62am indeed.
DeleteSurely she was shoved by Trump when she broke a hip. It's a miracle she survived.
DeleteI agree.
DeletePolls indicate that a majority of those that closely or moderately follow news media, voted for Harris.
DeleteIn a blind poll a majority of Republicans prefer Harris’ policies over Trump’s.
Somerby’s notions are neither credible nor coherent, same with his trolls/fanboys, who we in Blue America are instructed to pity - whether we do or not, what we do is provide Red America with the gdp that they live off of. In this way, Somerby, his trolls/fanboys, Republicans, are parasites, but Blue America, instead of removing or killing off these parasites, magnanimously provide for these parasites so they can survive, but what we are not going to do is take advice or cultural cues from these parasites. Sorry that this triggers Red America, sure it makes them want to commit violence against Blue America, but it’s a catch 22, since we in Blue America provide them with the necessities of life, as they are stuck on their couch watching Fox News, high on meth, etc.
It’s sad Blue America has to work hard every day to support these losers in Red America, but it’s not as sad as the lives of Red America, with all their vices to self medicate against self inflicted wounds.
How is your hip, Hillary?
DeleteRob Schneider is a Republican and he voted for Trump. Before that he was an anti-vaxxer, which suggests a lack of judgment on his part. He supports RFK Jr., who is a kook. Yet Somerby has written a long excuse for his bad behavior at corporate gigs and his support for the worst candidate in the last election. Why? To name drop perhaps, since Somerby likes to tell his readers about the famous comedians he has met, what good people they are because they were once nice to him. He did that with Roseanne Barr too, who is even nuttier.
ReplyDeleteAlmost going to the same high school in far different years is not a basis for a relationship with a mediocre comedian. Schneider sounds like a jerk if he cannot figure out how to not get thrown off a stage due to failure to "read the room." Why does Somerby bend over backwards to portray Schneider as someone anyone should care about? He sounds like another Gutfeld to me. And Somerby himself is no better.
Anonymouse 10:35am, my guess is that Schneider is being referenced because he’s acting like those angry lug F&F guys, pushing back on all the tenets of civilization that are now being challenged by the democrafication of the media.
DeleteIt’s the Wild West all again, little filly.
You’re welcome.
What gives you this idea? Please quote anything Somerby has said to support your opinion.
DeleteAnonymouse 11:05am, try reading him for a change.
Delete
DeleteBob is right: Democrat-controlled media are full of shit.
Anonymouse 11:47am, it’s worse than that. We couldn’t get an unzhuzhed story from any media outlet if THEIR lives depended upon it.
DeleteThat's probably true, Cecelia.
Delete"Why does Somerby go out of his way to portray Schneider as someone worth paying attention to?
DeleteHe describes Schneider as part of a group of 'angry males' who 'drive our flailing American discourse' with 'a supreme sense of confidence in the wisdom of their own assessments, which everyone else... is destined to agree with.' Somerby suggests our behavior mirrors these 'angry males' in similar ways. He may even call for us to undertake the deeply uncomfortable task of self-reflection, seeking to understand how our own flaws might contribute to the very circumstances that we feel are entirely the faulty of others. But only as a hypothetical, sociological exercise. You won't really have to self reflect or anything.
I’m an angry male. I want Cecelia to be my personal servant.
DeleteWhat you truly want is attention.
DeleteI want Cecelia’s attention.
DeleteCecelia and David and the like are lonely guys desperate for attention; however, paying them attention only feeds their worst traits.
DeleteI am a Soros bot. Mr. Soros gives me all the attention I crave. Thank you, Mr. Soros, Sir.
DeleteRob Schneider would be an ideal governor of Greenland.
ReplyDelete"Why would a decent person ever have decided to vote for Candidate Trump? Dear physician, heal thyself? Dear commenters, look in the mirror?"
DeleteThis makes no sense. Somerby suggests that Trump voters voted for the worst candidate possible because others called them stupid for doing so? Aside from the circularity of this reasoning: they voted for Trump because people called them stupid for voting for Trump, why would someone run out into traffic just to prove they weren't stupid enough to play in the traffic?
Someone like Cecelia who thinks it is funny that anyone would worry about Nancy Pelosi being prosecuted for treason, is not a good decent person. Neither are voters who would vote for a horrible candidate simply because they don't like being told that hating blacks and immigrants and subjugating, raping or abusing women is wrong. That isn't how good decent people behave either.
This argument that the left is forcing Trump voters to support Trump has never made any sense. As near as I can see, Trump voters are supporting him because they are misinformed and undereducated and believe things about him that are untrue. And yes, it is their fault that Trump is now president, because it isn't as if no one tried to educate them and warn them about what will happen. Now the red voters will suffer more than the blue ones and they have brought it upon themselves.
Rob Schneider has followed the money. Just like Trump himself does, even when he has more money than anyone can spend. I agree with Drum that the infusion of corporate money into elections in order to allow business to buy govt was the start of both polarization but also the source of problems that hurt voters and work against their interests in our nation. That needs to be reversed, but we will have to take back our govt from the bought-and-paid-for right wing politicians first.
Meanwhile Somerby doesn't want to talk about the real problems and causes of Trump's election. He likes blaming the left and denigrating women better, so that is what he uses his blog to do.
Campaign finance reform is difficult when the Supreme Court equates money with speech.
DeleteOr Canada.
DeleteOr Panama.
DeleteYeah. Probably Canada.
DeleteGreenland's entire population is roughly equal to the number of people who participated in the Chicago Marathon this year.
DeleteThe only time Rob Schneider was funny was the sketch where he was that lazy (right wing) guy at work that felt like an outcast because he was incompetent so when others walked by his desk, out of shame and loneliness, he tried to bait those busy with work into paying attention to him, by mocking them for doing their work. Some of his targets of derision often remained good natured trying to placate his anxieties, patting him on the head, leaving him feeling more lost and bitter.
DeleteSounds remarkably like our tiny cohort of fanboys and trolls.
Shall we give North dakota to Canada because it is sparsely populated?
DeleteWhat was offensive about Schneider's joke? It's essentially a play on the word "beat" -- meaning either to electorally defeat or to physically pummel.
ReplyDeleteBob gives his explanation of the of the offensiveness. I have two other theories. The joke took a position that people who are physically men are indeed men And it took pleasure in Harris not being elected. These are offensive positions to many liberals
Whatever happened is not Schneider's fault unless he engaged in humor that was completely out of His well-established character. The event organizers (and maybe his agent to a lesser extent) are to blame. Inviting an antivaxer to a healthcare/hospital event is like inviting a holocaust denier to synagogue.
DeleteYou can watch Schneider's presentation at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ28Gi8CauY&ab_channel=ForbesBreakingNews
DeleteI don't find his jokes or his presentation terribly funny
The single most important thing in his life is his friendship with Adam Sandler. Otherwise he would have been forgotten long ago.
DeleteI never heard of him.
DeleteAgree with David, this election was about White men taking back what they think is rightfully theirs, which is a dominant position in society. And who is David to argue with that?
DeleteThe joke wasn’t meant to be offensive to White men, more descriptive, and empowering.
"I don't find his jokes or his presentation terribly funny[.]"
DeleteI don't think most grifters are funny.
By threatening Denmark, Canada, and Panama, Trump strengthens us against Russia and China.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteRob Schneider is a neo-Nazi.
I always thought he was neo-natal.
DeleteI would like to perform menial tasks for Cecelia.
ReplyDelete" ... that California's Democratic Party may not have everything right."
ReplyDeleteAbsurd strawman.
This.
DeleteThat
DeleteThe Other.
DeleteThis election was a giant gene-mapping exercise. Apparently, a great number of people have an asshole affinity gene that makes them vote for an obvious sociopath. Not everyone who voted for Trump falls into that category, but enough so that we should be able to isolate this gene through further research. I think that would greatly benefit our understanding of human behavior.
ReplyDeleteGet DNA specimens from David and Cecelia.
DeleteGeneticists would likely find this undertaking deeply problematic for both scientific and methodological reasons.
DeleteTDS is a serious mental illness.
DeleteSome people get it, others don't. It could be genetic, but I doubt it.
It only occurs in humans, so there must be some genetic basis.
DeleteIt's rare among humans, it's mostly among Democrat bots.
DeleteAn election statistician was on one of the three major networks last week. He pulled the election data from the most well educated district in the country (in Michigan) and the least well, as I recall, in Louisiana. College education rates were over 90% and less than 10% in adults respectively. The Michigan district went 94% Harris and the Southern district when by the same number, roughly, Trump. Ramaswamy, who is now railing against the uneducated and lazy culture in the country he has chosen as his home, has already forgotten who got him where he is. MAGA will be reminding him.
DeleteTrump only got 30% of the electorate.
DeleteYes, many might be assholes, but they weren’t born that way.
Behavioral science provides a good understanding of Republican voters, genes has almost nothing to do with it.
TDS is such a played MAGA meme.
DeleteChange your algorithm.
My definition of TDS: people who delude themselves into thinking that Trump is anything but a grifter and a conman.
Delete@Anon 2:05,
DeleteWell, if you posit that an asshole-affinity gene exists, then you can procure a large enough sample of trumpers and never-trumpers and see whether you can isolate a gene or a set of genes that are present only in one group but not the other.
Again, there's some very basic, almost primordial, difference between people who don't find Trump's behavior problematic at all; and those who can't conceive voting for him.
DeleteTDS is a mental disorder, and you're suffering from it, that's all. Think of 1984, Emmanuel Goldstein, Two Minutes Hate. That's what you're experiencing.
It'll take time, but may get better. As usual, the first step is to realize that you have a problem.
1984 was a warning against people like Trump and Musk.
DeleteWhen the bone simple obvious flies over your head, you’ve lost the plot.
Just put your head back in the sand, you’ll be dying of cancer before you know it, good luck not getting denied coverage for it.
The reaction to Schneider's presentation at that Saskatchewan hospital shows the intolerance of some on the left. They got so offended that that were unwilling to listen to jokes and they cancelled him.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that only leftists are allowed to get offended. I get offended by lots of stuff I hear, but I don't demand that the speaker be shut down. Similarly, some Harris voters refuse to socialize with Trump voters, but not vice versa.
I wish your comments came with subtitles, they're so full of right-wing bullshit cliches.
DeleteYou don’t expect to be offended at a work function that you are obligated to attend.
DeleteAgree with David, leftists should be forced to listen to bad comedians and forced to hang out with people that despise them. Why should those on the Right be the only ones that suffer from their own stench?
Delete“ some Harris voters refuse to socialize with Trump voters, but not vice versa.”
DeleteIt’s just you, DiC.
I’m an extreme leftist, literally a Marxist-Leninist, and I would be delighted to socialize with you, Dave.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Delete"...the intolerance of some on the left..."?
DeleteThe people who invited him to perform asked him to stop. Are you suggesting that someone "on the left" invited Schneider to perform just so they could embarrass him by cutting him off? That's nutty.
Also mentioned in today's post, Schneider suffered the same fate while performing for the Senate Working Group, an organization of senior Republican Capitol staffers. Cindy Hyde-Smith, a Republican Senator from Mississippi walked out of his performance in disgust.
How do you figure that says anything about the intolerance of "some on the left," David?
DIC stands corrected. I apologize for him. He is currently at a Jewish fundraiser for Israel, listening to a comic making holocaust jokes. It would be the height of intolerance to cancel the guy.
DeleteThis blog leaves me confused, I can’t tell if I want to yawn or fart.
ReplyDeleteBoth.
DeleteJust follow your heart.
DeleteIn the film, someone calls the wife “Mrs McClane” and she answers to it rather than explain that isn’t her name. That doesn’t amount to her taking her married name back. It means nothing.
ReplyDeleteIt means she has voluntarily submitted to the patriarchy.
Delete