Occasionally Rick Santorum says things. Whenever he says things, I choose to believe that he is a troll candidate put forward by Anonymous, because it is basically impossible to believe that such a sex-negative, homophobic, racist, sexist, science-hating asshole is running for president in the twenty-first century. Asimov would cry.
Recently, on his quest to become the lulziest presidential candidate ever, Santorum took a vacation in Femmephobic Gender-Policing Land.
To quote The Advocate:
During a campaign appearance in Wisconsin Wednesday, he reportedly stopped a young man from picking up a pink bowling ball.
“Friends don’t let friends use pink balls,” Santorum quipped as the press looked on…
“You’re not gonna use the pink ball,” Santorum said to the boy first. “We’re not gonna let you do that.” Although, he added a caveat: “Not on camera.”
Quipped? Really? THAT is our standard for a presidential candidate quip? Ah, for the halcyon days of Adlai Stevenson.
But seriously. The fear and hatred of the color pink. I seriously thought I was joking when I put that in the definition of femmephobia, but there it is in the flesh. You’d think that pink burns men when they touch it or something.
I find it particularly interesting because, as recently as the forties, pink was considered the manly color– stronger, more masculine, and more decisive. Hence, the whole “pink is for girls” thing is entirely arbitrary. And yet there are some people are not just concerned enough about it to refrain from using pink bowling balls themselves, but enough to keep other people from using it.
Is gender-policing around pink bowling balls the great gender issue of our times? Of course not. But I am fascinated by it because of how utterly petty and pointless it is. Using whatever color of bowling ball you like harms no one and is unlikely to topple the patriarchy, and yet… people care? For some reason? It’s just bizarre.
well dammit just about every single spot on the female body I truly want to touch is pink, I think Aerosmith got it right dont know about Rick. I mean regardless of their race, its just amazing.
If the bowling alley was at all like our local, the colours denote different weights. Maybe Senator Santorum was an expert judge of the bowler and was ensuring that he wouldn’t injure himself by forcing him to use a lighter ball. Or maybe not.
Also, the “if you can’t beat them, outbreed them” approach is a weakness to which a number of social orders are exposed, not least of which is democracy.
“I find it particularly interesting because, as recently as the forties, pink was considered the manly color– stronger, more masculine, and more decisive. Hence, the whole “pink is for girls” thing is entirely arbitrary.”
The “pink/red for boys, blue for girls” is actually really ancient, the reason why the virgin Mary is traditionally depicted in blue is because in ancient times blue was seen as the colour of the sacred feminine
Why is it that crazies tend to have more children than sane people? Is it because, in today’s world, having lots of children is a crazy thing to do? (There are various religious groups, Haredi
“ultra-Orthodox” Jews in Israel among them, who explicitly seek to have high birth rates for political reasons. In the long run, does democracy turn into rule by those who have the most children?)
You know I used to be upset about Santorum. He says a lot of shit that’s problematic… but then I saw this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asTPft2-RWw
No, he’s not for real.
“Also, I’m not from the US, does he have children? If so that gives me sadface/rageface”
It’s not really possible to run for high office in the USA if you’re childless. It’s like being an atheist.
Sometimes I think Rick Santorum exists solely to make others remember they aren’t insane. Once he starts making sense, its time to see a doctor.
Retail chains sometimes put outrageously overpriced items next to mildly overpriced ones to make them seem fair in comparison. It works on a lot of people.
I wonder, is Santorum there to make Romney seem moderate in comparison?
He claimed that my freaking University of California Berkeley has no American History Department. (Are you stupid?) And then he said that universities are indoctrination mills (can sort of agree there, though it’s being done by students who are what I call “social-justice-asshole” , not by university) and that Obama wanting everybody to have a college education was a bad thing
Santorum has 7 (!) children, who he says he will have homeschooled. He believes that parents should control their children’s education.
No Idea if image will show up, but my gift to you:
[IMG]http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/1263/pinkballs.jpg[/IMG]
http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/1263/pinkballs.jpg
More to the point, he said MY GIRLFRIEND was the moral equivalent of an animal rapist! Personally, I think I am the soul of discretion and self-control because I didn’t spend the entire post cursing him out.
Erm. He compared gay sex to bestiality, which is to say that he said I was the moral equivalent of someone raping an animal. I think that any form of verbal vitriol directed at the gentleman is, at this point, called for.
…I notice you don’t try to claim that he isn’t a racist, sexist, homophobic, sex-negative, science-hating asshole.
@AnonymousDog: waiwaiwaiwait. You actually disagree with the assessment that he’s sex-negative, homophobic, racist, sexist, and science-hating? Not that I want to get into the nitty gritty of the election, but good lord, what redeeming qualities do you actually think are being unfairly hidden, here?
@marc: It’s something that’s been long in development and much scarier when you realize it’s a bunch of very deliberate, strategic GOP maneuvers. Here’s “The Right-Wing Id Unzipped” from Truthout: http://bit.ly/GPc5Ra
You can think whatever you like about pink bowling balls, but your insulting characterization of Santorum was uncalled for. I take it that you really don’t want to change anyone’s mind, but are merely showing off your ‘cred’ for people who already agree with you.
And I don’t think you will have any justified grounds for complaint when people with whom you disagree start in the same way on politicians you admire.
In my opinion, Santorum is one of the few people who says the things he does because he actually believes them. By contrast, there is usually a discrepancy between the cant most people recite (by rote, for whatever reason) and what they DO. I’ve found that a lot of people, conservative or liberal, will give you the shirt off their backs if they KNOW you, whether you wear pink or not, even if it’s nothing more than a sense of, “He may wear pink, but he never hurt nobody; it’s just his way.” This applies even to people who rage… Read more »
ITS. Gaah.
For all women get called “the weaker sex,” masculinity must be extraordinarily delicate if mere contact with a pink object can cause it serious harm. Which strikes me as a super uncomfortable world for boys and men to live in. So many things you can’t touch, lest you thus provide an example of yet another legitimate point on the human gender-expression spectrum explode! I’m also struck by Rick Santorum’s use of the “friends don’t let friends….” meme, since it’s famous origin is drunk-driving-awareness campaigns. It implies that using a pink bowling ball while male is just as dangerous and life-threatening… Read more »
@marc, look up the guy’s history – including comparing gay sex to bestiality, for example. I’m sorry to report that he just really, really does have his head that far up his ass, and he has for a long time!
I think I’ve come up with a theory on Rick Santorum and bear in mind I’m British so I can only really go on what I’ve seen and heard of him on blogs and youtube clips but I think that when he started it was kind of a foregone conclusion that Obama would get a second term. So instead of actively trying to become the Republican candidate which would surly lead to a swift and very humiliating defeat at the hands of the Democrats come November decided to use the increased exposure to say whatever the fuck he really felt… Read more »
@daelyte: Because people generally believe what people they accept as authorities tell them. To be fair, this usually works reasonably well; most people believe in Julius Caesar, or in Einstein’s theory of relativity, for pretty much the same reasons that children believe in Santa Claus, and this is perfectly reasonable. On the other hand, if it’s a process that can result in belief in Santa Claus, what other wrong beliefs can it result in? (Incidentally, the average child who believes in Santa Claus is quite rational in doing so. They’re presented with enormous amount of evidence that Santa Claus exists… Read more »
How can a guy like that be polling around 40%? Why would anyone vote for him?
Maybe Rick Santorum is some sort of living art installation. Maybe he is an actor hired to point out the absurd flaws of society in regards to gender, sex, science, and race. Because the implication that he is a ‘real’ person just make my mind explode. I just can’t. You don’t even need to pull apart his argument’s to demonstrate why they are ridiculous, it’s self evident.
Who here thinks Rick wasn’t allowed a pink toy when he was younger?
Also, I’m not from the US, does he have children? If so that gives me sadface/rageface
Some say it was because of Hitler that the association shifted. Under Nazi rule, men imprisoned on accusations of homosexuality were forced to wear a pink triangle.
I presume when British Imperialists coloured India, Kenya, South Africa and various other sundry colonies and protectorates and dominions a rosy pink on their world maps they didn’t mean to imply the British Empire was somehow effeminate.