TWO SUBJECTS THAT RARELY COME UP...

...here, feminism and anti-semitism, have popped up a bit lately. That observation is of no importance whatoever. There was a recent thread on another blog that got into what comprises a "feminist" and the general consensus was that orthodoxy was no good and that everyone pretty much has a right to call themselves whatever they like, believe what they like, etc. All very reasonable. One of Kelso's contributions to the debate was that although he despised Camille Paglia for her anti-semitism, he really wouldn't call her feminism into question if that's how she even labels herself.

Kelso's been going nuts trying to find one of her more outrageous anti-semitic rants online, but the slippery eel has dodged him at every turn. Please help. It was a while ago, but here's the essence of it. There was a newsworthy story about a fraternity-house gang-rape at one of the more prestigious colleges. No, not Duke. This preceded the Duke case by a number of years. Paglia wrote either an essay or an op-ed in support of the jocks. It was very, very much not along the "innocent-until-proven-guilty" or even "reverse-racism-if-they-were-black-they-could-get-away-with-it" lines. It was bad. And we don't mean it was poorly-written. We mean it was evil.

Her argument was that at the more prestigious colleges the John Hughes high-school paradigm of the jocks getting to screw all the prettiest girls gets turned on its head and the (here come the code words) physically small, intellectual, liberal, private-school, male children of psychiatrists and investment bankers get the best choices of female sex partners because of their eloquence in the classes and wit at the parties trumps that of the poor, working-class, under-prepared, earnest, conservative, masculine athletes, who at public schools or at private schools at which they were too busy with an athetic program had a natural disadvantage in the classroom and no gift of gab at the parties. Outgunned and frustrated and surprised by this new situation they find themselves in, it's only natural that fraternity jocks might resort to letting out some sexual steam by raping a woman at the frat house. And while that might not be the most gentlemanly way to do it, it's understandable.

Upon re-reading the last paragraph, anti-semitism may well be the least of her sins. The sexism -- women as chattel -- the wretched class envy of the kind that produced "Reagan Democrats" (wanted to say Hitler!) are at least as bad. Worse.

There may actually be some truth in that kind of social stratification obtaining in such an environment. A sense of the importance of intellecutal curiousity, verbal and artistic proficency must ipso facto pervade the culture at an elite institution of higher learning. So, given the way society has organized itself to this point at least in the Northeastern United States, Jewish guys probably do have the overs slightly in the playboy department on the jocks. Don't know if any sociologist has studied the question, but it would be tough to do because there would be all sorts of biases and inacurracies in the polling data, and there's way too much crossover. If one looked at how much sex little Jewish guys got at land-grant universities as opposed to how much jocks got, it's pretty likely that it's a whole other scene: the jocks get the prom queens and debutante broads and the Jewish guys have to figure it out. Which they probably do. Or maybe not. But how many stories have you heard about gang-rapes at the Florida State Havurah or Peace-And-Justice House?

Kelso's still willing to let Camille Paglia call herself a feminist if she so desires. But maybe the ersatz-intellectual has seen Animal House too many times and just developed an intense un-requited love for Niedermeyer or Marmalaard that bloomed into "theory". Or maybe she got no play from the garmento's kid in her writing seminar wherever the fuck she went to college? But had indeed smelt the felt at DKE? Kelso's going to recommend to the renowed feminist scholar who plies her trade at the Philadelphia Institute Of Art (lots of jocks there to be sure!), psychiatry, drugs, and to quote Otter from Animal House "....start drinking heavily..."

Every reader of this blog is tasked with finding this particular piece of writing by Ms. Paglia, because Kelso failed miserably. For all of you potential DCI Tennisons and Philip Marlowes, here's one clue which led Kelso up a blind alley. About 4 years ago, a self-identified Camille Paglia fan wrote something in the New York Press very much like this in which the writer complained about just this situation as it pertained to intellectuals v jocks at the college he or she went to and how it still obtains in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. This writer being less crazed-up as Camille Paglia was more clever and evaded the anti-semitism by referring disrespectfully to articulate intellectual guys at college as "Sons Of Melfi" as in the character who appeared once in The Sopranos. Dr. Melfi's over-educated son is home for the holidays and there's a 2-minute scene of the two of them having dinner following her session with Tony. Kelso does not remember which season it was or what the point of the scene was.

Happy hunting!

Kelso's Nuts love you.