SwiftBoating The Dance.
I hate to keep linking to Kung Fu Monkey, but if John would stop hitting it out of the ballpark like Babe Ruth...
Some folks , no doubt, wonder why I cuss on here. Others wonder "what's the point?" when I go off on what looks like some semi-obscure point in the dance realm. Me spouting off about historical analysis isn't nearly as cool as a bunch of dancers rambling on about another fuckin' pair of Melodias...and I'm not sayin' that just because I can't get a custom pair made. :)
Yes, there is a reason, and that reason John cleverly unwraps in the climax of his discussion on the Edwards blogger issue. Very basically, the John Edwards campaign hired two bloggers about a week ago, and look to be on the cusp of firing them over a SwiftBoating of the blogger's opinions on what I like to call "Political Catholicism". It's bullshit, total bullshit, and way past any real point these bloggers might make. That they are also women, and ID as feminists, makes this even sadder.
The short point John Rogers is making is that John Edwards needs to Grow. A. Pair. And he needs to do it fast, 'cause these bastards don't stop coming.
This reminds me of certain less-than-fully-historically-aware elements in the "belly dance" world, shall we say. The people who "attack first" , without understanding the complex historical arcs that lead up to the modern "splintering" of raqs sharqi. The people who've listened to the folks "over there" and taken their word as gospel, and then parrot it here without thinking over the implications of those words. The people who "read" half-written, poorly-researched works on the "History of the dance", and then spew it out at the drop of a hat. All these people are BRINGING THE DANCE DOWN. Of course we're a laughing stock, we can't even get our basic history right! How, exactly, do you expect to get respect when you're not only showing up in a glittery over-padded push-up bra, but can't even say where this dance comes from?
If I get kicked out of every "cool belly dancing kids" club over speaking on the need to think, to speak to people with a real and clear language, to finally understand how we are perceived to the world at-large, that's all good with my soul. We all need to be angry that we've been led down a path of half-truths and lies, for no good goddamned reason.
And that goes a hundred times more for Politics. To cap with what Rogers said at the end of his piece:
Some folks , no doubt, wonder why I cuss on here. Others wonder "what's the point?" when I go off on what looks like some semi-obscure point in the dance realm. Me spouting off about historical analysis isn't nearly as cool as a bunch of dancers rambling on about another fuckin' pair of Melodias...and I'm not sayin' that just because I can't get a custom pair made. :)
Yes, there is a reason, and that reason John cleverly unwraps in the climax of his discussion on the Edwards blogger issue. Very basically, the John Edwards campaign hired two bloggers about a week ago, and look to be on the cusp of firing them over a SwiftBoating of the blogger's opinions on what I like to call "Political Catholicism". It's bullshit, total bullshit, and way past any real point these bloggers might make. That they are also women, and ID as feminists, makes this even sadder.
The short point John Rogers is making is that John Edwards needs to Grow. A. Pair. And he needs to do it fast, 'cause these bastards don't stop coming.
This reminds me of certain less-than-fully-historically-aware elements in the "belly dance" world, shall we say. The people who "attack first" , without understanding the complex historical arcs that lead up to the modern "splintering" of raqs sharqi. The people who've listened to the folks "over there" and taken their word as gospel, and then parrot it here without thinking over the implications of those words. The people who "read" half-written, poorly-researched works on the "History of the dance", and then spew it out at the drop of a hat. All these people are BRINGING THE DANCE DOWN. Of course we're a laughing stock, we can't even get our basic history right! How, exactly, do you expect to get respect when you're not only showing up in a glittery over-padded push-up bra, but can't even say where this dance comes from?
If I get kicked out of every "cool belly dancing kids" club over speaking on the need to think, to speak to people with a real and clear language, to finally understand how we are perceived to the world at-large, that's all good with my soul. We all need to be angry that we've been led down a path of half-truths and lies, for no good goddamned reason.
And that goes a hundred times more for Politics. To cap with what Rogers said at the end of his piece:
It's not like I'm standing on a pristine hill and saying it's time to piss down the immaculate green slopes. We're in a memetic fight with the bullies of greed, of social control, of bigotry, of fear, we've been in it for years. I personally am sick of some Administration official telling an outright lie on television, or some pundit spewing racism that you wouldn't accept at a barbecue, and the liberal on the split-screen coughs and moves on to his next bloodless talking point.
Fill your hands, you sons a bitches.
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It's spelled "mimetic". Boy, can you rant. I mostly agree with you. We have got to talk politics some time.
In response to Jeanmaire:
No, "memetic" is spelled correctly. He means a war of memes, a fight over ideas. We are not copying one another, we are fighting a cultural war.
In response to Asim:
right on! You tell 'em. (Oh, and it wouldn't be that hard to have a similar pair of dance pants made to your size, in whatever style or color you want. There are several folks making and selling knock-offs already, so maybe someone has a pair that would work for you, but if not they look pretty easy to make.)
On a more serious level, I agree with what you are saying. It's also true that with such an old form, there is only so much we can know about the history, and that things have diverged and fused, and changed. On some level, it can be an academic dance, but it is also still a folk dance - a dance of the people. This doesn't excuse presenting it as something that it is not - I'm trying to say that there are many levels and approaches.
Ok, belly dancing done between 600 AD and 1600 AD how close are we in our favorite hobbie?
This rant is related to my quest for sca period origami. We know that people have been playing with paper for a long time in sca period, but there are no extant examples and no (at least surviving) instructions. We start to see instructions and paintings/drawings of origami in the 1700s. While I really wish I could document origami in sca period, I cannot, so I do not do it in the sca. The problem with raqs, is that we must reverse engineer it to fit into the sca time period. It is done at events, so how can we justify it now?
[...] I got, due to not only my last post but also some outside emails, a lot of notes about “belly dance” being or not being period. The short form, so that everyone’s on the same page, is “Yes! — but it’s called ‘raqs’.” [...]
Well stated! A lack of basic education about the subject, or even a basic theory of how one looks at the subject, brings raqs down as a whole. A little humilty and openess to knowledge gain goes a long way.