Philosoraptor: 1, DuToit: 0
A really excellent point-by-point refutation of Kim duToit’s “Pussification” rant: The duToitification of the Western Conservative. It’s from Winston Smith of Philsoraptor, and in addition to being totally on-target, it’s also fairly hilarious. Thanks to Ted at Crooked Timber for the link.
November 10th, 2003 at 1:55 pm
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream–and not make dreams your master,
If you can think–and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings–nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And–which is more–you’ll be a Man, my son!
–Rudyard Kipling
November 10th, 2003 at 10:34 pm
Thanks for the link, John. A nice breath of fresh air after the stink of Kim’s essay. But unfortunately I agree with Winston himself when he says at the end of his great piece that Kim’s rant isn’t “worth the powder to blow to hell.” (What a great line!) Any deconstruction of it on the left just keeps it in the public consciousness, which is all that blowhard girly-men like Kim du Toit can hope for.
November 12th, 2003 at 10:31 am
In response to this article, count me in as another woman who “views George Bush or Donald Trump or Donald Rumsfeld with . . . obvious and obviously genuine disgust”.
I can’t even stomach watching GB on CSPAN without wretching, let alone be in the same room with the guy.