Via Tengrain, we have the latest atrocity from TeeVee "psychologist" Dr Keith Ablow. It's been a while since I've taken Ablow to the woodshed...
Anyway, Ablow proposed that men be able to "veto" women's abortions:
I have a proposal for Dr Ablow- if a man wants to veto a woman's abortion, he should have to carry a succession of objects the size of the developing fetus up his ass for nine months.
Being the guy who proposed the idea, Dr Ablow should be subject to this policy as well, with the proposal that he cram objects equal in mass to the aggregate of "vetoed abortion" fetuses up his poop-chute.
On a serious note, isn't it time that Ablow has his medical license revoked?
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query ablow. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query ablow. Sort by date Show all posts
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Ugh, Ablow Again
It's been a while since I've taken Keith Ablow to the woodshed. Mercifully, I tend to forget about this creep, but then one of his ablowviations makes it to the blogosphere. Well, Ablow's latest is another bit of non-scientific jackassery:
Who was the first human being in the world to say that transgenderism would pave the way for people to declare their own races? Dr. Keith Ablow. I warned about it. And it's happening and it will happen with age because of guys like Mark Zuckerberg, who have you invent your life on Facebook and then don't understand the concepts of the borders of a country. The country's a real mark, he's part of this too. It's part of the denial of reality.
Race is a social construct, there is no biological basis for the concept of race. I believe that Ablow is really afraid that a world in which transgendered persons are accepted is one which is likely to jettison the whole concept of race, and realize that the human species is one big, interconnected family.
He's not warning about a world in which individuals can declare their own races, he's warning about a world in which people can declare that there is no such thing as race. That kind of world, in which Ablow can't claim superiority because of the melanin content of his skin, is what really has him worried.
Who was the first human being in the world to say that transgenderism would pave the way for people to declare their own races? Dr. Keith Ablow. I warned about it. And it's happening and it will happen with age because of guys like Mark Zuckerberg, who have you invent your life on Facebook and then don't understand the concepts of the borders of a country. The country's a real mark, he's part of this too. It's part of the denial of reality.
Race is a social construct, there is no biological basis for the concept of race. I believe that Ablow is really afraid that a world in which transgendered persons are accepted is one which is likely to jettison the whole concept of race, and realize that the human species is one big, interconnected family.
He's not warning about a world in which individuals can declare their own races, he's warning about a world in which people can declare that there is no such thing as race. That kind of world, in which Ablow can't claim superiority because of the melanin content of his skin, is what really has him worried.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Clueless Caucasian Curmudgeons Critique Cute Korean Cutup
Who better to weigh in on a genuine international pop phenomenon than an angry, stupid old white guy? I have to admit that my exposure to the song Gangnam Style was pretty late in the game, and completely due to a post by Interrobang. My knowledge of K-pop is slightly more substantial than bubbles but less substantial than rain. Of course, being ignorant about a particular subject may cause me to eschew criticism of said subject, but Bill O'Reilly has no such qualms about flaunting his dumbassitude. Yeah, Bill just had to weigh in on Gangnam Style and, in a masterstroke, brought on somebody even more ignorant than himself to contribute his two cents. Bill could have brought on a hip, young Korean-American to break down the cultural phenomenon, but he's not really trying to understand it... this is a classic example of fostering the ignorance and bigotry of his audience.
Bill's guest Dr Keith Ablow is even more clueless than he is. Let's unpack some of Ablow's idiocy regarding the song. Here's the "Heart of Dorkness", so to speak:
For Americans, at least, most of the lyrics of Gangnam Style can't be understood, since they are in Korean. Here's a sample: "Na je nun ta so ro un in gan jo gin yo ja . . . " Psy himself performs (like many entertainers) under a pseudonym. His real name is Park Jae-sang.
The great sin here is that Ablow states that the song can't be understood, yet he makes no attempt to understand the lyrics, even though he goes so far as to write some of them out. It's so much more comforting to foster the prejudicial view that the song is gibberish... would such bullshit fly if Ablow were discussing Nessun Dorma or In Fernem Land? If Ablow had decided to scratch below the surface and do his homework, he would have discovered that Gangnam Style is actually a slightly subversive satire of a stratified society. Here in the 'States, we need more such satire.
Of course, the popularity of Gangnam Style is international- any discussion of the song's impact has to take this into consideration. South Korea, with its population of just under fifty million has internet usage of 82.7%, making it the 17th "most wired" nation on Earth (the United States comes in 27th place with 78.3% connectivity). Trying to shoehorn the popularity of the song into an "Americacentric" model is plumb dumb.
As far as the popularity of the song outside of Korea, I imagine much of the popularity in Asia is due to the fact that fans are drawn to "PSY" because they can relate to him better than, say, to a Taylor Swift or a (shudder) Ted Nugent. Bill-O, of all people, should realize that people enjoy seeing folks who look sorta like them represented in the media.
Moving on to the Western World, there are approximately 1.7 million Korean-Americans in the U.S. Korean-Americans have long labored under the stereotype of being a model minority, composed of hard-working, wonky brainiacs. Gangnam Style, much like the "Howard and Kumar" movies, shatters this stereotype. Here we have a thirtysomething Korean guy who is a jokey, yet savvy, party animal- take your "model minority" perceptions and shove 'em. One of my favorite iterations of the song is this one, which perfectly encapsulates the "cool brainiacs" aesthetic.
Outside the Korean-American community, a lot of youth culture is otaku culture... there is a hearty embracing of Asian popular entertainment and the young consumers drive much of the popularity of web content. The incredible rise of Gangnam Style is incomprehensible to a square old fogey, much like the inexplicable resurgence of 80's pop tunes used to "count coup" on n00bz and the bizarre popularity of glorious Russian cheese among snarky youths. The very concept of "cool" in the 21st century involves syncretism, it's a blending of cultures low and high, east and west, meatspace and web- the cool people are African-Americans who are obsessed with kung-fu movies, Canadian muppets, and glorious mutants. Who would be more appealing in today's pop culture melting pot than a not-so-young Korean guy, surrounded by pretty young women, singing a piss-take of a song, rooted in an African-American musical style, with a brief, catchy English chorus and featuring a hilarious video?
Gangnam Style works on many levels- it's a satire, it's a physical comedy, it's an easily learned dance craze (like other inexplicable hits). Hell, even a clumsy galoot (don't look at me, I'm a dancing machine, most guys who like to fight are) can hit the floor when this tune plays. Expect to hear the song played at weddings for years to come (my prediction is that the "Hey, sexy ladies!" part will be played while the bridesmaids assemble, maybe when the garter is tossed).
Finally, Gangnam Style lends itself to the DIY/mash-up culture, and has spawned a plethora of videos, including some truly inspired ones. Gangnam Style, far from merely being the most popular Youtube video of all time, is actually a good microcosm of the Internet itself- it's a true melting pot of styles and themes from across the planet. It's no wonder that a couple of fuddy-duddies, addressing an audience of grumpy old fogies, can so spectacularly fail in their assessment of this cultural phenomenon.
UPDATE: Now, here's a real assessment of Gangnam Style by someone who knows what she's talking about.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Special thanks to zrm, who corrected my misspelling of "Gangnam". Thanks, old chum! mikey observes Bill-O's combination of racism and opportunism, which leads me to this observation... I think the main reason Bill's ass is chapped by the popularity of Gangnam Style is that it represents the primacy of "hip-hop culture" worldwide. In Bill-O's world, Asians are supposed to be the model, "almost white, well behaved" minority. To see a Korean guy performing a rap dance number must make Bill-O's head feel all assplodey. Remember when America's Racist Uncle decried the fact that young Latinos identify with "rap culture"? Well, now even the "nice" non-whiteys have succumbed to the beat. Combined with the overwhelming support for President Obama by Asian-Americans, expect to see a lot of Asian-bashing in the conservative media in the coming years. Yeah, yet another "natural Republican voter" constituency fleeing the "big tent" due to bigotry and ignorance. J. Neo Marvin compares Gangnam Style to the most important song of the 1990's, the prescient Common People by Pulp. Now, this is how to approach a song- figure out the lyrics. Of course, Bill-O and his knuckleheaded guest don't want you to be exposed to the class-critique central to Gangnam Style, it suits their purposes to portray the song as so much gobbledegook (nasty pun intended, we all know what Bill-O was thinking). The unintentional hilarity of Ablow's take on the song is that his characterization of its popularity as a symptom of a shallow American youth culture is based entirely on an extremely shallow understanding of the song.
Bill's guest Dr Keith Ablow is even more clueless than he is. Let's unpack some of Ablow's idiocy regarding the song. Here's the "Heart of Dorkness", so to speak:
For Americans, at least, most of the lyrics of Gangnam Style can't be understood, since they are in Korean. Here's a sample: "Na je nun ta so ro un in gan jo gin yo ja . . . " Psy himself performs (like many entertainers) under a pseudonym. His real name is Park Jae-sang.
The great sin here is that Ablow states that the song can't be understood, yet he makes no attempt to understand the lyrics, even though he goes so far as to write some of them out. It's so much more comforting to foster the prejudicial view that the song is gibberish... would such bullshit fly if Ablow were discussing Nessun Dorma or In Fernem Land? If Ablow had decided to scratch below the surface and do his homework, he would have discovered that Gangnam Style is actually a slightly subversive satire of a stratified society. Here in the 'States, we need more such satire.
Of course, the popularity of Gangnam Style is international- any discussion of the song's impact has to take this into consideration. South Korea, with its population of just under fifty million has internet usage of 82.7%, making it the 17th "most wired" nation on Earth (the United States comes in 27th place with 78.3% connectivity). Trying to shoehorn the popularity of the song into an "Americacentric" model is plumb dumb.
As far as the popularity of the song outside of Korea, I imagine much of the popularity in Asia is due to the fact that fans are drawn to "PSY" because they can relate to him better than, say, to a Taylor Swift or a (shudder) Ted Nugent. Bill-O, of all people, should realize that people enjoy seeing folks who look sorta like them represented in the media.
Moving on to the Western World, there are approximately 1.7 million Korean-Americans in the U.S. Korean-Americans have long labored under the stereotype of being a model minority, composed of hard-working, wonky brainiacs. Gangnam Style, much like the "Howard and Kumar" movies, shatters this stereotype. Here we have a thirtysomething Korean guy who is a jokey, yet savvy, party animal- take your "model minority" perceptions and shove 'em. One of my favorite iterations of the song is this one, which perfectly encapsulates the "cool brainiacs" aesthetic.
Outside the Korean-American community, a lot of youth culture is otaku culture... there is a hearty embracing of Asian popular entertainment and the young consumers drive much of the popularity of web content. The incredible rise of Gangnam Style is incomprehensible to a square old fogey, much like the inexplicable resurgence of 80's pop tunes used to "count coup" on n00bz and the bizarre popularity of glorious Russian cheese among snarky youths. The very concept of "cool" in the 21st century involves syncretism, it's a blending of cultures low and high, east and west, meatspace and web- the cool people are African-Americans who are obsessed with kung-fu movies, Canadian muppets, and glorious mutants. Who would be more appealing in today's pop culture melting pot than a not-so-young Korean guy, surrounded by pretty young women, singing a piss-take of a song, rooted in an African-American musical style, with a brief, catchy English chorus and featuring a hilarious video?
Gangnam Style works on many levels- it's a satire, it's a physical comedy, it's an easily learned dance craze (like other inexplicable hits). Hell, even a clumsy galoot (don't look at me, I'm a dancing machine, most guys who like to fight are) can hit the floor when this tune plays. Expect to hear the song played at weddings for years to come (my prediction is that the "Hey, sexy ladies!" part will be played while the bridesmaids assemble, maybe when the garter is tossed).
Finally, Gangnam Style lends itself to the DIY/mash-up culture, and has spawned a plethora of videos, including some truly inspired ones. Gangnam Style, far from merely being the most popular Youtube video of all time, is actually a good microcosm of the Internet itself- it's a true melting pot of styles and themes from across the planet. It's no wonder that a couple of fuddy-duddies, addressing an audience of grumpy old fogies, can so spectacularly fail in their assessment of this cultural phenomenon.
UPDATE: Now, here's a real assessment of Gangnam Style by someone who knows what she's talking about.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Special thanks to zrm, who corrected my misspelling of "Gangnam". Thanks, old chum! mikey observes Bill-O's combination of racism and opportunism, which leads me to this observation... I think the main reason Bill's ass is chapped by the popularity of Gangnam Style is that it represents the primacy of "hip-hop culture" worldwide. In Bill-O's world, Asians are supposed to be the model, "almost white, well behaved" minority. To see a Korean guy performing a rap dance number must make Bill-O's head feel all assplodey. Remember when America's Racist Uncle decried the fact that young Latinos identify with "rap culture"? Well, now even the "nice" non-whiteys have succumbed to the beat. Combined with the overwhelming support for President Obama by Asian-Americans, expect to see a lot of Asian-bashing in the conservative media in the coming years. Yeah, yet another "natural Republican voter" constituency fleeing the "big tent" due to bigotry and ignorance. J. Neo Marvin compares Gangnam Style to the most important song of the 1990's, the prescient Common People by Pulp. Now, this is how to approach a song- figure out the lyrics. Of course, Bill-O and his knuckleheaded guest don't want you to be exposed to the class-critique central to Gangnam Style, it suits their purposes to portray the song as so much gobbledegook (nasty pun intended, we all know what Bill-O was thinking). The unintentional hilarity of Ablow's take on the song is that his characterization of its popularity as a symptom of a shallow American youth culture is based entirely on an extremely shallow understanding of the song.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
PSYops
This post, a follow-up to last Thursday's post, is inspired by a comment posted by a delurking commenter (please post more often, Robert!) at the mothership. I will print the relevant comment in full, because it's awesome:
De-lurking, because oh for god’s sake…
I like that this Dennis Prager completely overlooked Asian-Americans in his summing up of groups who have given themselves over to evil. Modern public education? As a Chinese American, I can attest that Asians *love* public education. For us, it’s a major tool for social and economic advancement. And we haven’t failed to notice the fierce and caustic hostility that Republicans have for public education. That’s not all we notice.
We notice the Republicans’ racist assumption that African-Americans are stupid, and their conceit that all it takes to win them over is to serve up a bigger, flashier helping of bullshit.
We notice the patronizing and insulting attitudes that permeates Republican attitudes toward women. Do they really think that women are children, whose concerns about equal pay and equitable access to necessary health care can be waved away like Christmas wishes for rainbows and ponies?
We notice the suspicious and insulting manner by which Republicans treat Hispanics – despite the fact that many Hispanics have family roots in this country that go back for centuries, they assume that anyone with a Hispanic surname is an immigrant, and quite possibly an illegal one at that.
We noticed all that, and guess what? We voted for President Obama by a ratio of over two to one. ‘Cause we see all that, and, at the risk of trading in stereotypes here, we’re supposedly the “smart ones”. Ha ha! Maybe it’s a good thing we Asians have such a low profile – I don’t think I have the stomach to read some wingnut having a fit over some kind of “Fu Man Chu” influence, or some shit like that.
If you’ve read this far, thank you for your attention. Back to lurking.
I've bolded the part of the quote that I'll be riffing on in this post. Of course, the "Fu Man Chu" influence refers to the villain of a series of 1920's pulp "yellow peril" novels in which the eponymous Mandarin Menace attempts to take over the world by using "Fu Music" to enslave the youth of the unsuspecting West. Well, this... uhhhh... fiendish plot, if you will, is eerily similar to the PSY-ops being waged against the youth of America, which aims to drug their minds. Even now, Korean artists are trying to capitalize on the popularity of Gangnam Style to weaken our impressionable American youth by singing songs incomprehensible to most Americans:
I'm going to analyze this song with the same perspicacity as Keith Ablow brought to bear on Gangnam Style:
For Americans, at least, most of the lyrics of Largo al Factotum can't be understood, since they are in a foreign language. Here's a sample: "Tutti mi chiedono, tutti mi vogliono, donne, ragazzi, vecchi, fanciulle." Obviously this song, by a little fat guy from Pisser's Row or some place, is without intelligible words to some extent. It simply conveys you to a distant place, beat-wise, doesn’t try to convince you of anything. It doesn’t try to raise your emotions. It just is sort of like a drug. And that seems to be what most people want right now. Not reality. Not feeling. Not meaning. There’s something wrong with it… It’s the same as getting high, in miniature.
Oh, yeah, now that's some serious PSYchology- I can haz Fox gig nao?
POSTSCRIPT: I'd be remiss if I didn't note that PSY, the character played by Signor Park, is quite a bit like Figaro... both are slightly pompous, though lovable, scamps. Gangnam Style partakes in the spirit of the opera buffa. PSY is to Seoul as Figaro is to Seville- both are self-proclaimed men about town, beloved by all (in his video, PSY even interacts with donne, ragazzi, vecchi, e fanciulle). I think Rossini would "get" him, and wasn't Rossini a hell of a lot more savvy regarding human nature than Bill O'Reilly and Keith Ablow?
POST-POSTSCRIPT: I think O'Reilly is just jealous because his dance single didn't receive as many hits on Youtube (NSFW):
De-lurking, because oh for god’s sake…
I like that this Dennis Prager completely overlooked Asian-Americans in his summing up of groups who have given themselves over to evil. Modern public education? As a Chinese American, I can attest that Asians *love* public education. For us, it’s a major tool for social and economic advancement. And we haven’t failed to notice the fierce and caustic hostility that Republicans have for public education. That’s not all we notice.
We notice the Republicans’ racist assumption that African-Americans are stupid, and their conceit that all it takes to win them over is to serve up a bigger, flashier helping of bullshit.
We notice the patronizing and insulting attitudes that permeates Republican attitudes toward women. Do they really think that women are children, whose concerns about equal pay and equitable access to necessary health care can be waved away like Christmas wishes for rainbows and ponies?
We notice the suspicious and insulting manner by which Republicans treat Hispanics – despite the fact that many Hispanics have family roots in this country that go back for centuries, they assume that anyone with a Hispanic surname is an immigrant, and quite possibly an illegal one at that.
We noticed all that, and guess what? We voted for President Obama by a ratio of over two to one. ‘Cause we see all that, and, at the risk of trading in stereotypes here, we’re supposedly the “smart ones”. Ha ha! Maybe it’s a good thing we Asians have such a low profile – I don’t think I have the stomach to read some wingnut having a fit over some kind of “Fu Man Chu” influence, or some shit like that.
If you’ve read this far, thank you for your attention. Back to lurking.
I've bolded the part of the quote that I'll be riffing on in this post. Of course, the "Fu Man Chu" influence refers to the villain of a series of 1920's pulp "yellow peril" novels in which the eponymous Mandarin Menace attempts to take over the world by using "Fu Music" to enslave the youth of the unsuspecting West. Well, this... uhhhh... fiendish plot, if you will, is eerily similar to the PSY-ops being waged against the youth of America, which aims to drug their minds. Even now, Korean artists are trying to capitalize on the popularity of Gangnam Style to weaken our impressionable American youth by singing songs incomprehensible to most Americans:
I'm going to analyze this song with the same perspicacity as Keith Ablow brought to bear on Gangnam Style:
For Americans, at least, most of the lyrics of Largo al Factotum can't be understood, since they are in a foreign language. Here's a sample: "Tutti mi chiedono, tutti mi vogliono, donne, ragazzi, vecchi, fanciulle." Obviously this song, by a little fat guy from Pisser's Row or some place, is without intelligible words to some extent. It simply conveys you to a distant place, beat-wise, doesn’t try to convince you of anything. It doesn’t try to raise your emotions. It just is sort of like a drug. And that seems to be what most people want right now. Not reality. Not feeling. Not meaning. There’s something wrong with it… It’s the same as getting high, in miniature.
Oh, yeah, now that's some serious PSYchology- I can haz Fox gig nao?
POSTSCRIPT: I'd be remiss if I didn't note that PSY, the character played by Signor Park, is quite a bit like Figaro... both are slightly pompous, though lovable, scamps. Gangnam Style partakes in the spirit of the opera buffa. PSY is to Seoul as Figaro is to Seville- both are self-proclaimed men about town, beloved by all (in his video, PSY even interacts with donne, ragazzi, vecchi, e fanciulle). I think Rossini would "get" him, and wasn't Rossini a hell of a lot more savvy regarding human nature than Bill O'Reilly and Keith Ablow?
POST-POSTSCRIPT: I think O'Reilly is just jealous because his dance single didn't receive as many hits on Youtube (NSFW):
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