Not That There's Anything Wrong With That

As an old guy, I'm naturally pretty out of touch with emerging cultural trends. Consequently, I was sort of interested when a new book by this lots older but much more famous guy started making some little waves in the infosphere. Out of touch as I am, I feel compelled to consult my cultural correspondent, who keeps in touch with this stuff from his spot glued to his keyboard. Psibr-nought, as he styles himself, or S0, as I shall call him, has his finger on the pulse of the Zeitgeist.

I reproduce a portion of our IM text conversation:

CIP: So have you seen this book, Manliness, by Harvey C. Mansfield?

(Pause)

S0: Ye

CIP: So do you have an opinion?

S0: Gay-aye!

CIP: I wish you wouldn't use that as a generic term of disapprobation. I've got a small but cool readership, and I can't afford to offend people.

S0: So why do you consider it disapprobative? You have something against gay people?

CIP: No! No! Of course not. It just doesn't seem polite. Can't you use something else, like, say, "lame."

S0: So just pick on the physically handicapped?

CIP: OK, OK, how about "dumb" or "stupid?"

S0: Good plan. The mentally handicapped probably won't fight back on a blog.

CIP: [expletive deleted] How about "berk" or "git?"

S0: You want to know what's really gay? A male over the age of fourteen who quotes Harry Potter. Besides, "berk" is a rather vulgar reference to the female anatomy.

CIP: [multiple expletives deleted]

S0: How about if I just say [generic approbative yawp, yelp or yahoo]?

CIP: Won't that be a bit cumbersome?

S0: Right. I'll just use the initials. Like I said: gay.

CIP: So what's your problem with the book?

S0: Well, check out
the cover:

Black, white, title in white letters on black, authors name in pink - gay, gay, gay.

CIP: But that's just judging a book by its cover. What about his argument, his reasoning?

S0: Gee, I dunno, what's it about?

CIP: I think he's claiming men are different from women.

S0: Doh! That's a revelation alright. When do you suppose he figured that out?

CIP: I think it had to do with his studies of Achilles and Machiavelli. I had sort of hoped you had read it, or at least a few reviews. He calls himself the last conservative at Harvard.

S0: So is that why they call him Harvey?

CIP: I don't think so - it might be his name. As a cultural critic, I hoped you would be in tune with this kind of stuff, that you would have read it and mined it for his insights about the deep historical and philosophical roots of manliness as contrasted with the shallow insights of evolutionary biology.

S0: Sorry - it's a bit 2 gay for me - not that there is anything wrong with that. I've got some new starcraft hacks to learn.

S0: Oh, and could you leave out those nasty cracks I made about Harvard? I'm trying to get on the janitorial staff there.

CIP: What? You need the money?

S0: Nah, I just wanted to sign up for the free class - I hear that Lubosh is teaching QFT.

...

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