tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260545195755894149.post4769808702588126280..comments2023-06-22T07:32:28.491-04:00Comments on Dred Tory: Ignatieff Ignited!Sir Francishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15052750849770350973noreply@blogger.comBlogger61125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260545195755894149.post-18062366356114489842009-05-09T10:28:00.000-04:002009-05-09T10:28:00.000-04:00Sorry, I was just teasing you. I was hoping to ge...Sorry, I was just teasing you. I was hoping to get one of those delightfully withering responses you're so good at.Ti-Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06620550471437012866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260545195755894149.post-69787575341779246592009-05-09T00:28:00.000-04:002009-05-09T00:28:00.000-04:00Analytical Writing, was it?
Oh well, that's just ...<I>Analytical Writing, was it</I>?<br /><br />Oh well, that's just the <I>best</I> I can do. Sad, isn't it?<br /><br />I hereby retract my hasty (and initially facetious) pairing of you and Tomm. It was deeply unfair: he has never trolled.Sir Francishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15052750849770350973noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260545195755894149.post-19064930188790822942009-05-09T00:11:00.000-04:002009-05-09T00:11:00.000-04:00The "non" can be elided in that context.
No, it c...<I>The "non" can be elided in that context</I>.<br /><br />No, it can't. Not the "mon" and most emphatically not a "non."<br /><br /><I>Analytical Writing</I>, was it?Ti-Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06620550471437012866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260545195755894149.post-47915515015645662052009-05-08T23:55:00.000-04:002009-05-08T23:55:00.000-04:00I'm sure you meant to write mon vieux.
No. I mean...<I>I'm sure you meant to write mon vieux</I>.<br /><br />No. I meant to suggest a conversational ellipsis. The "non" can be elided in that context.<br /><br /><I>It's really kind of sad that this the best you can do when you're challenged</I>.<br /><br />I was not aware of being challenged, and that was hardly my "best" in any event, as you know. I suspect I shall achieve my best whenever I finally <I>try</I> to do so. I shall let you know when that happens.<br /><br />Who is "Jim", by that way? And what have you been drinking?Sir Francishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15052750849770350973noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260545195755894149.post-83898846066920394732009-05-08T23:38:00.000-04:002009-05-08T23:38:00.000-04:00I'm sure you meant to write mon vieux.
I want it ...I'm sure you meant to write <I>mon vieux</I>.<br /><br /><I>I want it noted that I resisted a [sic]. Write that down</I>.<br /><br />Done.<br /><br />It's really kind of sad that this the best you can do when you're challenged. Oh well; that's the Tories for you, eh Jim?Ti-Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06620550471437012866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260545195755894149.post-22889822048893856812009-05-08T22:37:00.000-04:002009-05-08T22:37:00.000-04:00I'd dearly love to read how you'd insult me obliqu...<I>I'd dearly love to read how you'd insult me obliquely by cratfing a playlet in which I become Sunera Thobani</I>.<br /><br />Thobani? Pfft. We're talking Camille Paglia, <I>vieux</I>...<br /><br />I want it noted that I resisted a [sic]. Write that down.Sir Francishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15052750849770350973noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260545195755894149.post-20482338596374060652009-05-08T20:17:00.000-04:002009-05-08T20:17:00.000-04:00If I really wanted to attribute dereliction to you...<I>If I really wanted to attribute dereliction to you, I'd twin you with people vastly more objectionable than Tomm--like female academics</I>.<br /><br />Obviously, I haven't unnerved you enough. I'd dearly love to read how you'd insult me obliquely by cratfing a playlet in which I become Sunera Thobani.<br /><br />Go for it, big boy! The measure of a man is how he can stand up to his...<I>mother</I>.Ti-Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06620550471437012866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260545195755894149.post-76961457172711520102009-05-08T17:21:00.000-04:002009-05-08T17:21:00.000-04:00Ryan:
Thanks for the recommendation. I shall be l...Ryan:<br /><br />Thanks for the recommendation. I shall be looking into him; he does indeed sound very appealing.Sir Francishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15052750849770350973noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260545195755894149.post-20341622658383012562009-05-08T11:54:00.000-04:002009-05-08T11:54:00.000-04:00I especially suggest picking up a copy of Torture ...I especially suggest picking up a copy of Torture and Eucharist.Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01498883352676519800noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260545195755894149.post-41208624858442134722009-05-08T11:46:00.000-04:002009-05-08T11:46:00.000-04:00SF,
Since you've mentioned the mall as the new ch...SF,<br /><br />Since you've mentioned the mall as the new church, I suggest reading a Catholic theologian named William T. Cavanaugh. I think he's your style. He apprenticed under Stanley Hauerwas at Notre Dame, if that means anything to you.<br /><br />http://www.catholicanarchy.org/cavanaugh/Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01498883352676519800noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260545195755894149.post-50696454289623026282009-05-07T18:25:00.000-04:002009-05-07T18:25:00.000-04:00Oh, I'd love to teach that. Peter would be incens...Oh, I'd love to teach that. Peter would be <I>incensed</I>.Ti-Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06620550471437012866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260545195755894149.post-51810577327748053342009-05-07T18:12:00.000-04:002009-05-07T18:12:00.000-04:00In first-year Creative Writing, no. In first-year ...In first-year <I>Creative</I> Writing, no. In first-year <I>Analytical</I> Writing, hell yes.Sir Francishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15052750849770350973noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260545195755894149.post-26237918276796577212009-05-07T17:46:00.000-04:002009-05-07T17:46:00.000-04:00The Hitchenses are the weedsNot in first year crea...<I>The Hitchenses are the weeds</I>Not in first year creative writing, I'll wager.Ti-Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06620550471437012866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260545195755894149.post-33824590164676755592009-05-07T16:23:00.000-04:002009-05-07T16:23:00.000-04:00Ti-Guy:
Ah yes, James Laxer--my favourite Waffler...Ti-Guy:<br /><br />Ah yes, James Laxer--my favourite Waffler. You should dip into his <I>The Border</I>, an excellent post-9/11 meditation on Canada/U.S. relations.<br /><br />If by <I>resonating</I> you mean quadrupling my word-count today in the service of a point I made two days ago, then, yes, Laxer's piece does resonate--it echoes, even.<br /><br />He rightly demolishes Ignatieff's attempt to ventriloquise Trudeau, as I did. Laxer also reaches back to Laurier, much farther than I would have (I'm not <I>that</I> historically obsessed).<br /><br />Well, well, well. Laxer says this about old William Lyon:<br /><br />"[Ignatieff] is following the old Mackenzie King play book...".<br /><br />I couldn't have said it better myself, though I certainly would have tried.Sir Francishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15052750849770350973noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260545195755894149.post-90968661004635532912009-05-07T15:57:00.000-04:002009-05-07T15:57:00.000-04:00I'd get the paper handed back marked up beyond all...<I>I'd get the paper handed back marked up beyond all recognition, yet with an A+ affixed to it by the prof</I>...<br /><br />Heh. Bird courses, eh?<br /><br />My situation, though, is different from what you describe in your nostalgic excursus in several respects:<br /><br />1) <I>I'm</I> the prof;<br /><br />2) My TA would see nothing to "mark up" about the contention that we were, like, really simple and private "back before technology"; and<br /><br />3) She will not be getting an A+...or an A...or a +.<br /><br /><I>...from that garden of weeds you face every day...somewhere, there's another Hitchens preparing to bloom </I>.<br /><br />The Hitchenses <I>are</I> the weeds.<br /><br />You're right, though: I've come across plenty of budding <I>auteurs</I>--most of them from rural backgrounds and most of them utterly careless and indifferent about their talent.Sir Francishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15052750849770350973noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260545195755894149.post-74551830198532804072009-05-07T15:45:00.000-04:002009-05-07T15:45:00.000-04:00Peter:
...hockey arenas have replaced churches a...Peter:<br /><br /><br /><I>...hockey arenas have replaced churches as the focus of community life in modern Canada</I>.<br /><br />...of mainstream, <I>neo-pagan</I> community life, yes. However, it is not the arena but the <I>mall</I> that has replaced the church. <br /><br /><I>...should I just tell him the proud Canadians are all depressed fogeys who endlessly re-hash out-of-print books and dream about coup d'états by the Governor-General</I>?<br /><br />He is likely to ask how one can be proud and depressed at the same time, or how our highest <I>de facto</I> constitutional authority can execute a "coup", if he's bright.<br /><br />If you truly care about the lad and wish to see him live happily ever after, you'll advise him, most solemnly, to have nothing to do with books whatever.<br /><br /><I>...the rapacious Yankee trader </I>...<br /><br />Heh. The rapacious Yankee hasn't traded (or made) anything of consequence in many decades. He lets the Chinese do that now. He's just rapacious.<br /><br /><I>There is so much low-hanging fruit out there for a learned reactionary</I>...<br /><br />...and it's all ripe and delicious. Sadly, there is much <I>more</I> rotting windfall. Fine for swine slop; not so good for me.<br /><br /><I>…no-one had the temerity to suggest it was clear you just hate freedom and are uncomfortable with your own sexuality</I>.<br /><br />Oh, but I <I>do</I>, and I <I>am</I>. That would hardly have been germane to the discussion, however.Sir Francishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15052750849770350973noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260545195755894149.post-49818703388129908482009-05-07T14:42:00.000-04:002009-05-07T14:42:00.000-04:00I believe several joint consultations since then h...I believe several joint consultations since then have determined that your condition is irremediable.<br /><br />Entire blog posts are being written about you, Peter. I'm not sure I'd be flattered.<br /><br />SF: Just read <A HREF="http://www.jameslaxer.com/2009/05/on-michael-ignatieff.html" REL="nofollow">this</A> by James Laxer. Now <I>that</I> resonates.Ti-Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06620550471437012866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260545195755894149.post-15753502634894594672009-05-07T14:22:00.000-04:002009-05-07T14:22:00.000-04:00Oh, I'm just here for my semi-annual psychological...Oh, I'm just here for my semi-annual psychological assessment, Ti-Guy. Let me know when your diagnosis is ready, will you?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260545195755894149.post-10838316878175103002009-05-07T14:06:00.000-04:002009-05-07T14:06:00.000-04:00I wonder what lured The Peter back here.I wonder what lured The Peter back here.Ti-Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06620550471437012866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260545195755894149.post-92050028222512813572009-05-07T13:56:00.000-04:002009-05-07T13:56:00.000-04:00"Back in the day before technology, people lived s...<I>"Back in the day before technology, people lived simple, private lives".</I>Did she get extra credit for noting that the modern world is, like, totally screwed up because we evolved to be hunters and gatherers?<br /><br />Serious, SF, I do wish you would at least balance your diatribes against the rapacious Yankee trader with more of these kinds of observations. There is so much low-hanging fruit out there for a learned reactionary, especially on social and moral issues, but not many can withstand the rote secular psychobabble or pop-scientism that comes back in swift and pompous reply. I was heartened by your attack on misogynist porn on Olaf's site and noted no-one had the temerity to suggest it was clear you just hate freedom and are uncomfortable with your own sexuality.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260545195755894149.post-89579219709033435642009-05-07T13:22:00.000-04:002009-05-07T13:22:00.000-04:00I've just come across a gem written by one of the ...<I>I've just come across a gem written by one of the young people whose fragile consciousnesses we must keep impervious to "disempowering" historical awareness</I>You have ungentlemanly discarded the principle of charity by setting my previous comment in a context that mocks it. Where is my glove?<br /><br />You're starting to remind me of those awful grad students who used to grade my work in undergrad by, apparently, examining it with an electron microscope. I'd get the paper handed back marked up beyond all recognition, yet with an A+ affixed to it by the prof, who, on noticing my puzzled look, would explain to me, in a somewhat embarrassed fashion, that his little elves may have been a bit over-zealous.<br /><br />But don't lower your standards and keep up the struggle, SF. Remember that from that garden of weeds you face every day, exhilarating <I>auteurs</I> do emerge from time to time and gift us all with their beautiful prose. Right now, somewhere, there's another Hitchens preparing to bloom.Ti-Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06620550471437012866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260545195755894149.post-92155677569933977702009-05-07T12:46:00.000-04:002009-05-07T12:46:00.000-04:00It's not a coup when the prerogative is establishe...It's not a coup when the prerogative is established by custom, convention, and law.Aeneas the Youngerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18235737108817968315noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260545195755894149.post-19058688288621950322009-05-07T12:45:00.000-04:002009-05-07T12:45:00.000-04:00Peter:
That's all I have time for; I did my time ...Peter:<br /><br />That's all I have time for; I did my time on the Hill in the 1980's. We're too far gone as a people.<br /><br />I tried. No one cares. They're all to busy consuming stuff.Aeneas the Youngerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18235737108817968315noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260545195755894149.post-79484911034892014942009-05-07T12:19:00.000-04:002009-05-07T12:19:00.000-04:00It only lives on as a distant memory when Team Can...<I>It only lives on as a distant memory when Team Canada takes the ice in a Hockey Tournament.</I> <br /><br />ATY, hockey arenas have replaced churches as the focus of community life in modern Canada and beggars can't be choosers. My completely apolitical 15 year old iPod-addicted son is having his first bout of national pride and consciousness over <A HREF="http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Business/fight+Balsillie+attempted+takeover+Coyotes/1570252/story.html" REL="nofollow">this</A>. Are you going to oil up your suit of armour and help or should I just tell him the proud Canadians are all depressed fogeys who endlessly re-hash out-of-print books and dream about <I>coup d'états</I> by the Governor-General?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260545195755894149.post-77953514924611893582009-05-07T11:35:00.000-04:002009-05-07T11:35:00.000-04:00Peter:
Always a pleasure to read from you, dear b...Peter:<br /><br />Always a pleasure to read from you, dear boy.<br /><br /><I>The later diaries contain some deliciously pithy criticisms of the Americans that would warm SF's heart on a cold night</I>.<br /><br />Got 'em, and read 'em. I've managed to get my hands on pretty much everything that's been written by and about our mid-century mandarinate. Ritchie's a very engaging memoirist.<br /><br /><I>But what is completely absent is any statements or musings about a Canadian national purpose or any systematic or even non-systematic attempt to define a mission or even national character</I>.<br /><br />Non-revolutionary states rarely de-sublimate their collective purposes, since they don't tend to see the nation primarily as an instrument--contractually established or otherwise--for the attainment of some definite goal.<br /><br />Thus one will peruse the records of the Renaissance in vain for statements of "national mission" from notable Italians, Englishmen, Frenchmen, or Spaniards. Conservative societies tend to become conscious of a mission only when attacked. <br /><br /><I>He is silent on C.D. Howe's continentalism</I>...<br /><br />What was worth saying? Howe was an American magnate behaving predictably according to his nature. Ritchie was silent, also, on Howe's possession of two nostrils, etc.<br /><br />Canadian conservatism's response to Howe's continentalism became somewhat <I>louder</I> during the Pipeline Debate, which destroyed Howe's career.<br /><br /><I>Are you guys sure Grant's book shouldn't have been entitled "Lament for an Empire"</I>?<br /><br />Ignatieff seems to think so, and, as reviewers of his new book have pointed out, Grant admitted as much in his preface to the book's second edition. That George Parkin was a clever chap, you know...Sir Francishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15052750849770350973noreply@blogger.com