Obsidian Wings

Contrarian Double-Ex Hires Sociopath as Friendship Guru

By Lindsay Beyerstein

The self-proclaimed feminist website Double-X shrewdly hired noted sociopath Lucinda Rosenfeld to write its friendship advice column. This is precisely the kind of fresh, contrarian perspective we've come to expect from the Slate/Double-X brand.

Double-X racks up a lot of hits by hiring anti-feminists to diagnose the ills of contemporary feminism. Retaining a psychopath as a friendship guru is the logical next step.

Before taking the gig at Double-X, Rosenfeld produced a substantial body of anti-friend literature, including a novel about friends who despise each other (the official website even lets you stick pins in a flash voodoo doll!). She's also the author of How to Dump a Friend (2001) and Our Mutual Friend: how to steal friends and influence people (2004). Clearly, she's perfect for the job.

On Monday, Rosenfeld answered a later from a woman who woke up in the gutter after someone spiked her drink. She later learned that her friends ditched her after she went to the washroom and didn't come back. These same friends later refused to pick her up at the emergency room:

Later, when I called them from the street, sobbing in hysterics and asking for help, they told me to go back to the club and that they would have an ambulance pick me up there. When my mother—who lives 2,000 miles away (and hopped on a plane the next day to be with me)—later called these two friends of mine to beg them to join me while I was recovering, they refused. It wasn't until I told them that the hospital wouldn’t release me until I had someone to drive me home that they came to pick me up. They then angrily drove me to my car, and I drove home alone. By then, it was the next morning.

If the letter-writer were asking me, my utterly predictable, non-controversial response would be to tell her to get some new friends. Plodder that I am, I'd repeat the received feminist wisdom (/ethical person wisdom) that it's very, very wrong to shrug off the abrupt disappearance of a friend.

As for the ER, well, I warned you that I'm really boring. Basically, if you know me well enough to remember my number, drunk off your ass in the middle of the night, I'll come get you at the hospital. Heck, if my number is even in your phone, you can bet I won't just leave you at the county general. Then again, I was raised by hippies and steeped in annoyingly traditional values like loyalty and community. Snore.

Rosenfeld isn't afraid to turn the conventional wisdom on its head. Her advice: Harden the fuck up, loser. Don't expect anyone to rescue you from the ER unless you're related by blood or exchanging other bodily fluids on a regular basis. Please understand that if your rational, self-interested friends seem a little hostile, it's only because they sense it's your fault:

Wow, that’s a tough call. A spouse or even a boyfriend? Yes, it would be his or her duty to haul ass to said hospital at 4 a.m. But your single female friends who are already, presumably tucked in their beddy-bies? I have to admit that, if I got a call like yours (or your mother’s) in the middle of the night, I’d do what I could from home, but would be hard-pressed to jump in my car until morning. [...]

Here’s a little secret. BFFs are great when you’re upset about a boy/sick cat/whatnot. But there are limits to friendship—limits that don’t apply to our romantic partners or close family members. What I fault your friends for is not driving you all the way home the next morning, or at least following you there to make sure you got through the door on two feet. I also wish they’d been a less critical of what was, by your account, a freak incident. Why were they so unforgiving? I’d wager a guess that they think you’re lying about the mickey, tales of which are sometimes used as a cover for irresponsible behavior. (Only you know the truth.)

Being a sociopathic advice columnist is not without its challenges, however. Rosenfeld is perplexed that so many readers are sending her angry emails.

[HT: Jezebel, x-post at Majikthise]

Right 16 out of the last 17

link

When the Redskins win their final home game before the presidential election, the incumbent party stays in office. When the Redskins lose their final home game before the election the incumbent party loses, except in 2004. Pretty simple, right? Steve Hirdt of the Elias Sports Bureau discovered it's happened precisely that way 16 of 17 times since 1940. Anything close to that exact is more than a trend and is certainly politically unbiased.

We can presume that Steelers in a romp means Obama in a landslide. You don't want to argue with numbers that overwhelming, do you? "Congratulations, Barack," Leftwich said, smiling and revealing his own preference.

The Steelers left town with a victory, with Roethlisberger also smiling and not seriously hurt, and with the Redskins licking their wounds after what felt like a loss on the road.

Just thought you should know.

This is an open thread on one of my favorite topics--the misuse of statistics, or any other topic *not related to today's election*.

There are other topics, you know!  ;) 

Now That's Surprising

by hilzoy

Julia Child was a spy. Seriously.

From the AP:

"Famed chef Julia Child shared a secret with Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg and Chicago White Sox catcher Moe Berg at a time when the Nazis threatened the world.

They served in an international spy ring managed by the Office of Strategic Services, an early version of the CIA created in World War II by President Franklin Roosevelt."

Though, on reflection, I can see her cooking as a sort of two-pronged attack: use delectable dishes to tempt people into all sorts of confidences and confessions now, while laying the groundwork for serious cholesterol problems in later life.

Open thread.

Open Thread: With Obvious Suspicions!

by hilzoy

Did you see Dark Knight? Did you like it? And what obvious suspicion is raised by seeing it in IMAX?

Discuss.

And if you feel like discussing something else, discuss that too.

Unclear on the Concept

by von

Yes, back again, with a reminder.  This is a blog.  Ernest G. Gygax died on March 4.  There was no entry. Frankly, that's unacceptable.  Why?  Well, how about, "Moe said so."  Or, if you're a purist, "Gary sent us."  (To which the orc responds, "Huh?")

(You got the references, right?)

Here's your open thread.  You can LARP anything you'd like on it, save politics.*

*There is something to be said about the intersection between role-playing and blogging under a pseudonym.  Unforunately, having given up role-playing games almost two decades ago, I ain't qualified to say it. 

This Day In YouTube

by hilzoy

Funny:

Funny and educational!

(Via The Edge of the American West.)

A More Appropriate Thread

by hilzoy

Jeff, in comments to a previous thread, wrote:

"Note: there are things in comments that I'd like to reply to, and in a few days, when there's a new thread available for such things, I probably will. But how difficult is it to say to yourself "This precious gem of a idea can wait, as long as a whole day or two, and will not wilt on the vine"? How hard is it to realize that this thread, just this ONE, is NOT about you, sterling example of bloggerdom though you might be.

If you have anything to say that MIGHT be offensive, mail it to hilzoy -- let her make the decision, or curb your self-important egoism and post on a more appropriate thread."

I'm really grateful to Jeff for that. In return I offer this More Appropriate Thread™ on which to have all those discussions.

Farewell To A Giant

by hilzoy

I note with chagrin that Thomas at RedState has decided to retire from RedState, and that he has chosen to thank us as he leaves:

"Fifth, I want to take a moment to thank Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, Duncan Black, Oliver Willis, the whole crew at Obsidian Wings, and the writers of any other far-left wing moron factory I've inadvertantly omitted, for sending us the waves of cretins who've, between them, managed to make target practice a sport for the whole family again."

I thought I might mark this moment by noting some of Thomas' finer moments. It's hard to pick just a few, but here are two of my favorites:
First, from "Politicizing Tragedy Or The American Left And Human Filth: Distinguish If Possible":

"I no longer see the Left as a set of political opponents. I understand them now to be what they are: An uncompromising, barely human mass of malignancy, that exists only to be crushed electorally and culturally once and for all. Or, as a wiser man than I put it, The Evil Party."

Second:

"I repeat: Should the entire American Left fall over dead tomorrow, I would rejoice, and order pizza to celebrate. They are not my countrymen; they are animals who happen to walk upright and make noises that approximate speech. They are below human. I look forward to seeing each and every one in Hell.*"

How we in the moron factories will manage without Thomas' shining example of Christian charity and compassion is a mystery that passeth all understanding.

***

* This is not the only time that Thomas has committed the sin of presumption by claiming to know God's will not just in general cases -- e.g., His disapproval of murder or idolatry -- but in specifics as well. Personally, I do not believe that any finite and fallible human being has the knowledge to which Thomas lays claim, which gives me some hope that, despite Thomas' somewhat surprising view that he will be in Hell along with the entire American Left, he might be wrong, and find favor with God.

Pretty Bird Woman House

by G'Kar

I hate to ask for money, but I am willing to make an exception for particularly good causes. And I think that Pretty Bird Woman House, a women's shelter on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, qualifies. Some fine example of humanity burned down the shelter, and they need some $70,000 to buy a new place to house the women they protect. They're within $14,000 at this writing, but if anyone here could spare just a few dollars to help them along, that would be wonderful. Sexual violence is a horrifying constant for the women of the Standing Rock reservation, and places like the Pretty Bird Woman House are vitally and sadly important for them. It's an expensive time of year, but anything you can spare would help.

You can donate by visiting their blog or the Chipin page. Or use the widget below. Thank you.

Hat tip: Bitch, PhD.

Military Musings

by G'Kar

Inspired by some recent reading, both here and elsewhere, I wanted to address some matters military. Since this post is somewhat meandering and since I'm just a guest here, I'll put the post below the fold so readers can skip past to the more important stuff.