I often do not see eye to eye with James Taranto but he does point out some good stories in his “Best of the Web” email newsletter. He highlighted this Drudge Report today. Drudge reports Michelle Zipp, editor of Playgirl magazine, was fired for being a Republican. It contains an e-mail from Ms. Zipp:
After your coverage of my article about coming out and voting Republican, I did receive many letters of support from fellow Republican voters, but it was not without repercussions. Criticism from the liberal left ensued. A few days after the onslaught of liberal backlash, I was released from my duties at Playgirl magazine.
After underlings expressed their disinterest of working for an outed Republican editor, I have a strong suspicion that my position was no longer valued by Playgirl executives. I also received a phone call from a leading official from Playgirl magazine, in which he stated with a laugh, “I wouldn’t have hired you if I knew you were a Republican.”
I just wanted to let you know of the fear the liberal left has about a woman with power possessing Republican views.
I would go further. The currently constituted Democratic Party is based on victimology. ‘Minorities’ must be victims. Victims must be helped. The only way to help victims is through regulation, law and massive Federal spending. If a member of a Democratically important minority breaks ranks, they are endangering the core beliefs which bind the party together. Thus that individual must be silenced or put in their proper place as a victim.
Minorities contain intelligent, hardworking and resourceful people. You can not keep them ‘down on the farm’. You can not pretend to speak for all of ‘them’ because they are not really a ‘them’. As any libertarian will tell you, there is no such thing as a Class. There are only individuals with temporarily aligned self-interests.
This is a problem for the Democrats. As soon as the underlying self-interests of their pet victim classes were met, those classes began to dissolve. The Democrats do not have an acceptance of this, let alone a plan to understand and deal with new alignments. All they can do is individually lash out against ‘class’ defectors. It solves nothing, it wins them no friends… but perhaps it makes them feel better.
It may be vile, but lashing out at an individual who breaks ranks with the rest of their victim group tends to work – it keeps most of the group in line.
Carrot (welfare benefits and regulations) and stick (look what happens to the people who break ranks).
This is how collectivist politics works.
In the April issue there’s a who’s sexier Republicans or Democrats where it is found that Republicans were sexier, she’s also said a number of other Republican things glorifying war etc. This will annoy some of the female readership, but it will completely alianate one of the key demographics (40%+) of the Playgirl magazine, Gay men. Republicans are going out of their way to attack Gay men these days, and I doubt they are popular.
Porn is escapist material, and whilst gay men no doubt want to jerk off to pictures of straight men, I doubt they want to buy a magazine that glorifies Gay haters, I’m sure the people that fired her saw that.
The problem isn’t just on the left. Right whackos like the Christian fundies constantly think they’re under persecution from “the world” and go hat-in-hand before the state. They’ve adapted a 2000-year-old victim ideology and fit it right into the modern state complex. Republicans, wanting votes, play to it.
I think, at this point, we can safely disregard those who complains about them big gubmint libruls while the biggest spenders in the Republic are Republicans. Seriously, Dale, this partisan stuff is 1994. They’re all commies now.
– Josh
It’s pretty much how humanity works. It will be seen that almost all human societies, regardless of their level of development, are made up of groups with a more or less strong collective identity. Whether these groups are called clans, tribes, clubs or associations doesn’t really matter. Break the rules of the tribe (whether written or not) and you’re liable to be shunned, ridiculed or expelled.
EG
I confess I’m not sure what the big deal is about Ms. Zipp. At first glance, it looks like she was let go for political reasons, but I think Playgirl’s executives were likely motivated more by economic factors. Regardless of whether she allows her politics to bleed over into her work (judging by Della’s post, she did) a heavily Democrat readership might have decided to stop reading just because she was there. Same story as the Dixie Chicks, really.
It may be true, it may not be true… but caution is advised when the fired party tells you why they were fired as often there is more to it than meets the eye.
Exactly. Perry and I discussed this yesterday and were struck by how Miss Zipp has gone out of her way to let Matt Drudge know about her persecuted status – I’m not convinced.
I simply do not find the problems of Ms Zipp surprising. Just look at the attack on Condi. Look at the problems of Hispanic justices being confirmed. The innuendo about the ‘intelligence’ and ‘poor opinion writing’ of a black Justice. Please name me a member of any ‘minority’ who wields real power and who espouses anything other than ‘party line’ who is not being vituperatively attacked.
I cannot wait for the fun in Pennsylvania when Lynn Swann, famous running back of the “Super Steelers’ runs for Government as a Republican. It will be positively hilarious watching the left squirm.
I am actually not attacking ‘liberals’ so much as attacking a form of illiberalism that has come to masquerade as the real thing. It is as if the Body Snatchers took over and are pretending to be liberal, mouthing the mantras, while in actuallity they have an entirely different agenda than the originals.
Er, wide receiver I meant. Along with Stalworth. It was late.