What does it mean for Democrats to be agitating over Web communications, which in my view fall under the province of free speech? It’s a civil liberties issue. We can say that what Foley was doing was utterly inappropriate, professionally irresponsible, and in bad taste, but why were liberals fomenting a scandal day after day after day over words being used? And why didn’t Democrats notice that they were drifting into an area which has been the province of the right wing — that is, the attempt to gain authoritarian control over interpersonal communications on the Web? It’s very worrisome and yet more proof that the Democrats have lost their way. —Camille Paglia —Salon Interview: Camille Paglia (Salon)
I had to start skimming after I found this quote, but I think most of the world probably gets about 20% of anything Paglia says. Even the headline writer for this interview couldn’t come up with anything specific to highlight.
She really lost me when she analyzed President Bush’s vocal patterns and concluded that there’s something in the tone of Bush’s voice that leads her to expect the US is in the process of launching another major military assault.
Still, her comments about the Democratic reaction to the Foley incident are spot on.
Somewhere in the stream of perfectly-formed academic sentences that gush from her mouth, there are always numerous challenging points that are definitely worth considering.